Bonds
by 123Dreamchaser123
Summary: Sadden by the death of Pikachu, Ash has lived away from society for 6 years and has given up on being a Pokémon Trainer. With a new dream, he has helped rescue stolen Pokémon while away. Meanwhile, Serena, saddened by Ash's presume death 6 years ago, has reached the peak of her career after pushing away everyone. What will happen when these two meet again and Giovanni strikes?
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon or anything associated with it.**

 **" Ahhh" – talking**

 **"** ** _Ahhh_** **" – telepathically talking**

 **'Ahhh' – thinking**

Inside a cave on a island off the coast of Kanto, a TV sat turned on. The lights from the TV illuminated the otherwise dark cave and the volume was turned so high up that it echoed throughout the cave. Directly in front of the TV, sat a 20 year old former trainer on the cold, hard ground. This ex trainer had z's on his cheeks and was covered head to toe in a black cloak. With the hood on the cloak down, the light from the TV reflected off the figure's messy black hair. An ugly scar in the shape of a lightning bolt spanned the entirety of his otherwise handsome face and his deep brown eyes are glued to the TV.

On the TV, the finals of a Grand Festival is being displayed. Currently, there is smoke covering the entire battlefield. Just moments before, both coordinators ordered their respective Pokemon to release an attack at its opponent. Both Pokemon released their attack at the same time and their attacks met in the middle of the battlefield and exploded.

When the smoke clears, a Glaceon can be seen on one side of the field with swirls in its eyes. Standing directly across it, a Delphox stands triumphantly with a smirk placed on its face. Three buzz sounds quickly fill the air.

"The three judges have ruled Glaceon unable to battle! Therefore, the winner is Delphox and the new Kanto Grand Festival Champion is Serena!" the female announcer's overly excited voice said.

A few seconds after those words left the announcer's mouth, deafening screams and cheers could be heard coming from the TV. Things like "I knew you could do it Serena" and "I love you Serena" were shouted and confetti started falling from the ceiling in the celebration of a new Top Coordinator.

In the cave, a warm smile starts forming on the figure's face.

The camera starts zooming up on Serena as she runs towards her worn out Pokemon. Serena's beautiful short honey blond hair and red and pink strapless dress is blowing in the wind as she runs. Black leg stockings hug tightly against the 19 year old's legs and a pink bow is tied in her beautiful hair. Once within range, the new Top Coordinator leaps into her Delphox's arm. A huge smile is on her face and tears of joy are coming out of her crystal blue eyes as Pokemon and human embrace.

"Serena has done it!" the announcer said over the screams and cheers. "Serena blew through the battle stage after earning a perfect score in the performance stage. After finishing in the top 4 five years ago at her first Grand Festival in the Hoenn region, she now wins it all in her second ever Grand Festival!"

Serena, still with a huge smile on her face, removes herself from Delphox, faces the crowd, and starts waving to her fans. Tears were still running down her cheeks.

"Who would of thought," the announcer continues, "four years ago when Serena earned the title of Kalos Queen that she would some day also earn the title of Top Coordinator. You are witnessing history folks! As Serena becomes the first person ever to hold both titles. Stay tune folks, will be back with more live coverage of this historic event after these short messages."

 _"So she won like you said she would, huh Ash,_ " a monotone voice says telepathically to the figure in front of the TV while standing directly behind him.

The now identified Ash quickly jumps up in surprise. His eyes grow to the size of saucers and he lets out a high pitched "AHHH" as he falls comically on his head.

"Of course she won! Didn't I tell you that she is amazing Mewtwo!" Ash angrily replied after recovering from his fall. "Also, stop sneaking up at me!"

Mewtwo, with a stoic expression on his face, lifted his arms and crossed them on his chest. His white body and purple tail is covered by a brown cloak and his black eyes are glaring at Ash as he says, _"It's not my fault that you couldn't detect me."_

Ash raises his hands in frustration and says, "You're a legendary Pokemon for heaven sakes! How can you expect me to detect you."

" _If you spent less time watching TV and more time training we would't be having this conversion,_ " Mewtwo responded, gesturing to the TV with his eyes.

"You wouldn't appreciate the true value of TV," Ash said with a playful smirk. "All you ever do is meditate and mope all day."

Unfazed by Ash's remark, Mewtwo said, " _Why do you even watch Pokemon battles and contests on TV? You gave up battling six years ago. Do you know how hard it was for me to set up a TV on a deserted island? I had to gather what you humans call an 'antenna' and a 'battery.' Plus, I have to get an electric Pokemon to recharge the battery every time it's low."_

With the mention of an electrical Pokemon and giving up battling, Ash's playful expression immediately gets replaced with a serious expression. His left hand unconsciously reached up to trace the large scar on his face.

Turning away from Mewtwo, Ash says in an even tone, "I only watch any news on my friends on TV. That includes their battles and contests. You know how important my friends are to me."

" _Ash, if they are important to you, why don't you visit them? Its been six years since anyone has heard from you."_

"You know why I can't visit them. Besides their are still Pokemon out their that need our help."

" _We already destroy most of Team Rockets and every other evil organization's bases. You have to face reality. The only reason why you are still here is because you are afraid to confront them. Heck, you haven't had a Pokemon battle in six years. Wasn't it once your dream to become a Pokemon Master?_ "

"Dreams change," Ash said in a low voice with his back still facing Mewtwo.

" _What happened to you. Just because Pikachu died doES NOT MEAN YOU THROW IT ALL AWAY. THIS IS NOT WHAT HE WOULD HAVE WANTED_ ," Mewtwo said while, for the first time, raising his voice.

" **WHAT DO YOU KNOW!** " Ash shouted while turning around with tears in his eyes. "PIKACHU MEANT EVERYTHING TO ME! HE DIED IN THAT EXPLOSION SIX YEARS AGO WHILE PROTECTING ME! HE WAS MY BEST F-FRIEND!" Ash shouted with his voice breaking at the end. Collapsing to his knees in despair and lowering his head so his hair covered his eyes, Ash spoke softly while still tracing the large scar on his face, "Thanks to him, all I got was this scar. . . He had been with me since the beginning. . . I just can't battle anymore with him gone."

 _"Even if you don't battle anymore, don't your friends, mother, and Pokemon at least deserve to know that your alive?"_ Mewtwo spoked softly while looking at Ash with sad eyes.

"I don't deserve to call them my friends or Pokemon anymore. They would hate me if they found out how Pikachu died. As for my mother, I am sure she would be disappointed in how her son turned out to be such a horrible person. They are all better off without me in their lives."

 _"I may not understand human behavior, but I know your Pokemon would understand if you tell them what happened._ "

Raising his head, Ash said, "It was my decision that ended up costing Pikachu his life. It is my fault that he died no matter how you look at it."

Looking into Ash's now red eyes, Mewtwo said, " _You are not a bad person Ash. You saved my life that day."_

"Mew mew," a pink Pokemon said while teleporting in front of Ash and nuzzling her right cheek against Ash's right cheek. Tears were also rolling down her cheeks.

Both Mewtwo and Ash jumped a little at Mew's sudden appearance, but seeing that it was their friend Mew and used to her sudden appearances, they both recovered quickly. Ash started petting Mew's head.

'Mew must have sensed Ash's emotional state and teleported here,' Mewtwo thought. _"You saved Mew's life too that day."_

After a couple minutes, Ash stood up and wiping away his tears, Ash said, "Thanks guys. I needed t-"

"And we're back!" the TV announcer's loud voice said, interrupting Ash.

All three figures turned their heads towards the TV.

The announcer is now visible with a microphone in her hand and right next to Serena on the battlefield. The announcer has long brown hair and is dressed in an elegant knee length black dress. "So, Serena, take as through what was going through your mind during the battle!" the announcer said, placing the microphone near Serena's mouth.

Serena with a big smile on her face says, "Well. . . The battle did not go well at first. My opponent came out strong and quickly cut my points in half." Her big smile turned into a sad smile as she continued. "However, a special friend once told me to, 'Never give up until it's over.' And I knew that it couldn't end like this. . . So, I quickly took a more aggressive approach and aimed to knock my opponent's Pokemon out before time was up. Delphox responded well to my commands and the rest is history," Serena said, a big smile, again, appearing on her face.

The announcer moved the microphone backed to in front of her mouth and said, "Wow! It sure was an impressive comeback! What would you say to this special friend if he or she was here right now?" the announcer said hoping to get some insight on the coordinator's relationship to this 'special friend.'

"I would say . . . Thank you," Serena whispered into the microphone. A single tear ran down her left cheek and her right hand came up, quenched, next to her heart. "Thank you for always being there for me and always believing in me. Without you, I wouldn't have realized my dream and probably still be at home trying to think of ways to get out of my daily Rhyhorn racing training. You're the reason why I stand here today and I hope wherever you may be that I am making you proud. . ." Serena said, looking up towards the sky.

Ash starts tearing up and whispers, "I am proud of you. Way more than you can ever imagine."

The announcer, realizing the emotional state of the new Top Coordinator, quickly says in the microphone. "I am sure this person is very proud of you. So, what are your future plans?"

Thankful for the change in topic, Serena composes herself and says into the microphone, "I plan on resting for a bit and celebrate my victory with my Pokemon. After that. . . Well I am not sure. . . I would like to go on another adventure, but where and what I would be doing I don't know at this time."

"Well you definitely deserve some rest and I am sure I can speak for everyone when saying that we look forward to hearing what your future plans are. Thank you, Serena, for your time. This is April reporting from Kanto, saying so long and-"

Ash turned the TV off and turned towards Mewtwo. "I hope she decides to return home and visit her family and friends before going on her next adventure. She hasn't been home in years," Ash said with a worried expression on his face.

'How does Ash know that Serena hasn't been home in years? He only leaves the island to go on our missions. Now that I think of it, how does he know when his friends are on TV,' Mewtwo thought. " _How do you know that Serena hasn't seen her friends and family in years?_ " Mewtwo said with a look of confusion.

Ash brought his right hand to the back of his hand and scratched his head nervously, "Well. . . After listening to her say that she was going to train right away to become a Top Coordinator after just becoming Kalos Queen, I sort of grew worried that she was becoming like me and I sort of had Mew follow her."

Looking at Ash with disbelief, Mewtwo said, " _You had Mew, who is suppose to be looking after the The Tree of Beginning, stalk your friend because you were worried about her?_ "

Normally, seeing the normally calm and collected Mewtwo making such a ridiculous face would make Ash laugh. However, with his embarrassment of admitting to having Mew stalk Serena, he just stared out Mewtwo with his cheeks slightly red. 'Well I actually have her check up on all my friends occasionally to see how they are doing. I just asked her to pay extra close attention to Serena after her announcement, but Mewtwo doesn't need to know that,' Ash thought. "Well stalk is a strong word. . . But I guess yes. . . I did."

Mewtwo turned to Mew for confirmation and after laughing for a couple minutes at Mewtwo's face, Mew gave a single nod confirming Ash's statement. 'He must have had Mew not only stalk Serena, but all of his friends. That is the only way he would of known when they were on TV,' Mewtwo realized. Recovering from his shock, Mewtwo said, " _Is what she did in the past really a bad thing? Look at where it got her."_

Ash sighed. "Serena is just like me when I traveled. I never contacted my friends after our adventures together. Never called to see how their life's were going and never gave them a way to contact me. Worst yet, I never spent a long time home with my mother before my next adventure. All that matter to me, was achieving my dream I didn't realize the pain I was causing my friends and family until after I reflected on my past adventures while staying here."

" _I don't understand. How does her or your actions cause your friends and family pain?_ "

Looking at Mewtwo with a serious expression, Ash said, "How would you feel if your fellow clone Pokemon never gave you way to contact them and they never contacted you ever again after leaving them?"

Mewtwo brought a hand up to his chin in a thinking pose and said, " _I would think that they didn't care about me and feel that our past experience with each other meant very little to them."_

"Extactly," Ash said, pleased with Mewtwo's answer. Lowering his head so his hair covered his eyes, Ash continued, "That is the pain I caused my friends after our adventures with each other. As for my mother, that pain must have been at least two times worse because she raised me. Only spending a day or two between year long adventures with her must have really hurt her. Serena is doing a similar thing. However, she has taken it a few steps further. . ."

" _How so, Ash?_ " Mewtwo said while slightly fearing the answer.

Ash raised his head and with a worried look on his face said, "She is going on adventures and training alone. At least I made new friends on my adventures. She goes place to place alone while traveling and is all business when interacting with people. She also hasn't visited her mom since at least before becoming Kalos Queen. Sure, this new attitude of her's may have helped her accomplish a lot of things in a short amount of time, but at what cost?"

Accepting Ash's reasoning, Mewtwo cautiously said, " _Why don't you go visit her and point out the errors in her ways?"_

With a look of guilt, Ash responded, "You know why I can't visit her. Please, just drop it, Mewtwo. I don't want to have this conversation again."

" _But-"_

"Mew," Mew said, shacking her head at Mewtwo. With sad eyes, Mew flew towards Ash and, like earlier, nuzzled his right cheek with her right cheek.

Mewtwo sighed in defeat and said, " _So, what are you going to do about her if your not going to visit her?"_

While petting Mew's head, Ash responded, "Right now, all I can do is hope that she makes the right decision or one of her friends or her mother can reach out to her."

* * *

At the entrance of the cave, Ash stood alone. He is staring at the raining falling outside and is deep in thought.

'Maybe Mewtwo is right. Maybe I should visit her. I haven't seen her in person since are adventures together through Kalos six years ago.'

A bolt of lightning suddenly shot across the sky.

'Pikachu, I wonder what you would do in my situation. . .'


	2. Arc 1 Ash's Life

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon or anything associated with it.**

On an abandon island outside the coast of Kanto, Ash is doing his daily training routine. At the moment, he is running on the beaches that are located at the perimeter of the island. The early morning air is cool and the sun is just peaking above the horizon. Light from the sun causes the water to sparkling like a million stars and the sky to be tinted in a mixture of pink and orange. The sand crunches whenever Ash's shoes makes contact with it. His black cloak is gone and in its place, Ash wears sweatpants and a hooded sweatshirt. A look of determination is on his face as he runs.

'I will get stronger no matter what. Never again will I fail,' Ash thought, images of the events that led to Pikachu's death were playing through his head.

Ash starts increasing his pace as he nears the end of his run.

'Never again!' Ash thought as Pikachu's final moments alive played through his head.

Ash continued to increase his pace until he reached his max speed. The finish line, a tree with a towel on it, comes into his line of vision. His legs are burning so much that they feel on fire and his breathing becomes even more ragged as he continues to push himself. A mixture of pain and determination is seen on his face. Ash holds his speed until he crosses his finish line about 15 seconds later.

Ash slows down his speed and collapses into the sand tired. As he tries to catch his breath, his legs are pulsing from the abuse they were put through. A tired smile forms on his face as he says, "I. . . did. . . it. . ."

'That was definitely the fastest I have ever ran around the island,' Ash thought. For about 10 minutes, Ash laid in the sand not moving and looking up at the early morning sky. Feeling his breathing returning to normal and his legs not pulsing anymore, Ash stood up slowly and made his way to the tree with the towel on it.

Once in front of the tree, Ash grabs the towel and wipes away the sweat on his face and in his hair with it. He, then, puts the towel around his neck and grabs the water bottle that he placed at the base of the tree before setting out on his run. Unscrewing the top and bringing it towards his face, Ash took a long drink from it and after removing the bottle from his lips, he sighed satisfied. As he was putting the water bottle back down next to the base of the tree, a nearby bush started to shake. Ash, having no idea what to expect, turned towards the bush and immediately raised his hands up to defend himself. His posture tensed and he took a sharp breath in as the outline of a figure was seen coming from the bush.

Mewtwo emerged from the bush in his usually brown cloak and once recognizing that the figure was his friend Mewtwo, Ash exhaled in relieve and his posture relaxed. He raised his left hand in greeting and said with a smile, "Good morning."

Mewtwo nods his head in acknowledgment and walks towards the ocean. Once close to the ocean, he sits down on the soft sand with his legs cross and closes his eyes. Mewtwo is facing the ocean and his hands rest loosely on his knees as he meditates.

Hearing the sand crunch right next to him, Mewtwo opens his right eye and looks towards his right. Seeing that it was Ash and that he is also in a stance to meditate, he closes his eye again and resumes meditating.

For a couple of minutes neither of them moved or said anything. They both enjoyed the fresh morning air and hearing the waves crash against the sand, made them both feel at ease.

Finally, with his eyes still closed, Mewtwo said, " _How was your morning run?"_

"Good, I have definitely gotten faster," Ash responded with his eyes also still closed.

Silenced, again, filled the air as both continued to meditate.

After about 20 minutes, Mewtwo opened his eyes and stood up. Turning towards Ash, Mewtwo said, " _You want to spar?"_

Ash shot up quickly and with his right hand raised up in front of his face and quenched, he said excitedly, "Yes! What are you waiting for? Let's go find a clearing in the forest."

The sun was now a good distance above the horizon as they both started to walk away from the ocean. After stopping briefly for Ash to grab his water bottle, they both continued to walk away from the beach and towards the island's forest. After walking for a couple minutes, they came across a small clearing.

" _This will do,_ " Mewtwo said.

Nodding his head in agreement, Ash placed his water bottle and towel down and walked towards one side of the clearing.

Mewtwo walked towards the other side of the clearing and said, " _Just hand to hand combat. The first one to knock the other down twice wins, agreed?"_ Mewtwo shifted his stance so his right foot was in front of his left. His right hand also came up in front of his body and his body tensed ready for action.

"Agreed," Ash said and he also shifted his stance to copy Mewtwo's stance.

The wind picked up as both figures stood sizing each other up. A leaf from a nearby tree came loose from the wind and started falling towards the center of the clearing.

As soon as the leaf touched the ground, Ash ran towards Mewtwo.

Once in front of him, Ash cocked back his right fist and swung it at Mewtwo's chest. Mewtwo used his raised right arm to deflect Ash's fist to his left and this maneuver and Ash's momentum caused Ash's whole body to fall towards Mewtwo's left side. Mewtwo, looking to taking advantage of Ash being off balance, swung his left fist in an uppercut motion at Ash's face.

Ash regained his balanced quickly and before Mewtwo's strike could land, Ash rolled out of the way to his right. Once back on his feet, Ash quickly faced Mewtwo and ducked under a fist aimed at his face. Ash, using his position to his advantage, swung his left foot in a sweeping motion aiming to knock Mewtwo off his feet.

Mewtwo jumped over Ash's sweep and turned his body to swing his now visible tail down at Ash. In an impressive display of strength and coordination, Ash grabbed Mewtwo's tail and stopped his forward momentum. Using the situation to his advantage, Ash spun Mewtwo in a circle by his tail and threw him towards a tree.

Mewtwo's face crashed against the tree and he grunted in pain as he slide down the the tree to the ground. Standing back up and turning to face Ash, Mewtwo said, " _Impressive, you really have come a long ways since you first came here six years ago. How about we make this more interesting and spar with no limitations from here on out?_ "

"Sounds good to me," Ash replied with a smirk on his face and getting back into his fighting stance. 'I will not lose.'

Mewtwo used psychic on itself to levitate a couple inches above the ground and brought his hands close together at his hip to create a small shadow ball. 'I'll use small shadow balls against him so I won't seriously hurt him and I won't use psychic directly on him,' Mewtwo thought. Once ready, Mewtwo fired his shadow ball at Ash.

The shadow ball came like a 100 mph fastball. Years of training allowed Ash to jump to his right and dodge it. As soon as his feet touched the ground again, two more shadow balls were on its way towards him. Ash twisted his body to the side to make himself skinny and one shadow ball passed by in front of him and the other passed by behind him, both were inches away from his sweatshirt. Ash turned to face his opponent again and with no time to react, received a fist to his chest. The force behind the punch sent him flying backwards towards a tree.

Ash's back hit the tree and he released a grunt in pain. Falling down to the base of the tree, Ash thought, 'Using psychic on himself increases his speed to unbelievable levels.'

" _It's tied now, one to one. Next one to knock the other down wins_ ," Mewtwo said while still levitating.

'I can't win with a frontal attack with his now superior speed, but if I keep my distance I'll just get pelted by shadow balls. What do I do?' Ash thought while standing up. Ash looked at Mewtwo with his right fist quenched tightly and thought, 'No, it can't end like this. I feel just as useless as the day Pikachu died. Was all my training for nothing if I still can't beat Mewtwo taking me half serious?' Suddenly, the wind picked up and started to blow Mewtwo's cloak wildly. A light bulb clicked on in Ash's head as he looked at Mewtwo's cloak. 'That's it.'

Ash reached down and grabbed a decent sized rock with his right hand. Winding up like a pitcher, Ash threw the rock at Mewtwo like how you used to throw pokeballs.

Mewtwo scoffed at Ash's feeble attempt to knock him down and quickly shot a shadow ball at it. The shadow ball hit the rock and destroyed it. With his attention on the rock, Mewtwo didn't notice Ash fast approaching until he was in front of him with his right fist inches from his face. Mewtwo quickly swayed his body to the right using psychic and while preparing a shadow ball to end it, he thought, 'Nice try, but it's over.' Suddenly, Mewtwo's felt a tug from behind and losing focus, his shadow ball vanished in his hand and he stopped using psychic on himself. Mewtwo, then, felt himself being spun in a circle by his cloak and was thrown.

Mewtwo's back collided with the ground some yards away from Ash and once on the ground, he slide a few more yards before coming to a stop. Reaching up, Mewtwo adjusted his cloak and thought, 'Ash first used a rock as a decoy to get close to me without me noticing him. Then, he threw a punch at my face and expecting me to dodge it, Ash reached his overextended right hand to grab my cloak. Finally, he used his strength to throw me by my cloak and win our spar.' Mewtwo looked into Ash eyes and said, " _Well done."_

Ash smirked and then collapsed onto his bottom. With his legs burning, Ash thought, 'Sparing with Mewtwo so soon after my run really did a number on my legs.' The image of Mewtwo using psychic to toss him like a sack of potatoes went through his head as he said, "Thanks, Mewtwo, but I know if you were taking me seriously, you would win by a landslide."

Mewtwo smirked and while standing back up, said, " _I know, but you did good for not being a Pokemon. You have trained hard these last six years and without your help, I wouldn't have been able to save as many Pokemon from evil people like Team Rocket."_

Ash lowered his head and while tracing the scar on his face, said softly, "Stopping evil people like Team Rocket is my way to pay back my debt to Pikachu for saving my life and for being my friend." Looking up, Ash said with a look of determination, "I'll make sure nobody has to go through the same pain I have been going through." Tears started to come out of Ash's eyes as he continued. "Pokemon are more than pets; they are lifetime friends. I'll stop people that take pleasure in stealing people's best friends away. Nobody, should be permanently separated from their best friend," Ash said while remembering his time with Pikachu.

While looking into Ash's eyes, Mewtwo thought, 'Even while thinking this way, he still refuses to see his friends (Pokemon included) and mother. Ash, I know I don't understand human emotions really well, but I know now that you are hurting your friends and family by staying away. Like Team Rocket, your sadness is stealing you away from your friends and mother.' Mewtwo sighed and said, " _Ash, we have destroyed all known evil organization's bases and have been hunting strangles and anyone else who steals Pokemon for the past 6 years. I am sure by now that if you had a debt to Pikachu, it surely would be paid off by now."_

Ash wiped the tears away with his left hand and said while standing up, "It won't be paid off until Giovanni is behind bars. He was the mastermind behind many Pokemon stealing operations and was behind you and Mew's kidnapping 6 years ago."

Knowing that he won't be able to change Ash's mind, Mewtwo said, " _We haven't been able to locate him since he escaped when we attacked Team Rocket's headquarters, but we will."_ With a serious expression, Mewtwo continued, _"No matter what happens, Ash, I am with you until the end. You helped me realized when we met all those years ago that the circumstance of one's birth are irrelevant. That it is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are. Then, when we met again six years ago, you helped me realize my purpose in life. To preserve the bond between Pokemon and people by stopping Pokemon thieves. You gave my life meaning and for that I am forever in your debt."_

Moved by Mewtwo's declaration, Ash responded sincerely, "No, it is I who has a debt to you. I could only imagine how bad my life would have turned out, if you hadn't been there for me after Pikachu's death. I probably would still be lying in sorrow and mourning Pikachu's death if it wasn't for you. So, thank you my friend."

'Don't thank me. I haven't been able to help you fully heal. Pikachu's death still weighs heavily in your heart,' Mewtwo though sadly.

* * *

Later that day, Ash and Mewtwo are back on the same beach from earlier. It is now evening and the sun is just barley above the the ocean. Like earlier, the light from the sun causes the water to sparkle like a million stars and the sky to be tinted in a beautiful orange and pink color. Ash and Mewtwo are both sitting down next to each other in the sand. Their legs are crossed and they are both leaning back with their hands in the sand to support them. They are both facing the setting sun and are enjoying the beautiful scene.

While thinking about Pikachu's death, Ash thinks, 'Never again will I fail! I will continue to preserve the bond between Pokemon and human!'

At the same time, Mewtwo turns his head to look at Ash and thinks, 'I will find a way to help you heal! Even if you do not agree with it and I am not directly involved.' Serena's face flashes through his mind as he turns his head back to look at the setting sun.

The sun disappears below the ocean as they both looked on.


	3. Arc 1:2 Ash's Life

**If you made it this far, I want to say thank you for giving my story a chance. Also, I want to say thank you to all of those who favorited, followed, and/or reviewed this story. I want you to know that I already know how I want this story to end and I am excited to write this story! Anyways, here is the next chapter.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon or anything associated with it.**

Inside a cave, on an abandon island off the coast of Kanto, Mewtwo sits meditating. Cracks in the cave's ceiling allows light to come through and light up the otherwise dark cave. Mewtwo is sitting on the cave's floor with his legs cross; his eyes are closed and his hands are resting loosely on his knees.

Suddenly, Mewtwo felt someone trying to telepathically communicate with him. Using his psychic powers, Mewtwo tried to clear up the message sent to him, but he still only got bits and pieces of the message. From the bits and pieces the words "important" and "thieves" stood out to Mewtwo.

Realizing that the message was urgent, Mewtwo quickly opened his eyes and stood up. 'I have to find Ash quickly,' Mewtwo thought as he used psychic on himself to fly out of the cave.

* * *

A little ways from the cave, Ash is doing push ups in a clearing he found while traveling through the island's forest. The afternoon sun is beating down on him and a look of determination is shown on his face as he struggles to finish his last reps.

"997. . .," Ash chocked out as he pushed himself back up to complete another rep. A few drops of sweat felled from his forehead onto the ground.

'Come on, three more reps and I am done,' Ash thought. "998. . . 999. . .," Ash said while completing two more reps slowly. His arms where now shaking from pain and more drops of sweat fell from his forehead as he struggled to keep himself up.

'One more rep. You can do this Ash,' Ash thought as he mentally prepared himself to finish his last rep. Going down to finish it, Ash could tell that this last rep would be a struggle to complete. Ash made it half way back up before his progressed stopped. His arms were now shaking like crazy as he struggled to push himself back. 'Come on,' Ash thought as he stalled out.

Suddenly, Ash started to move slowly towards the ground. 'No! I will not fail!' Ash thought as he stopped his progress towards the ground. Images of his time with Pikachu went through his head as he focused his pain into his workout. Summoning up strength that moments ago he did not have, Ash pushed himself fully up while yelling, "1,000!"

As soon as he reached the top, Ash's arms gave out and he collapsed face first onto the ground. He was breathing heavy and his heart was beating so rapidly that he could hear it in his ears.

This is the scene Mewtwo saw as he flew into the clearing that Ash was in. 'Is he ok?' Mewtwo thought as he landed right next to Ash. Forgetting momentarily why he came here in the first place, Mewtwo poked Ash with one of this three fingers on his right hand and said, " _Hey Ash, are you ok."_

"Never. . . been. . . better. . .," Ash mumbled while taking deep breaths between each word and with his face still in the ground.

Now noticing his heavy breathing, Mewtwo sighed in relief as he realized that Ash must be resting after doing one of his many workouts.

Remembering why he came here in the first place, Mewtwo looked at Ash's prone position and said, " _Ash, one of the clones is trying to contact me."_

Finally catching his breath, Ash turned his head to the side to speak more clearly and said, "How urgent did it sound?"

" _Very urgent. I think he/she spotted a Pokemon thief. I need your help to clear up the message."_

Ash quickly jumped to his feat at the news and reached into his cloak with his right hand for the necklace around his neck.

Mewtwo, knowing Ash's intention, immediately reached up to throw his cloak off.

Ash pulled out a necklace with a key stone tied to the end of it. Grabbing the key stone, Ash said, "You ready?"

Mewtwo threw his cloak off. As the cloak hit the ground some feet away, Mewtwo rested his left hand on the mega stone strapped onto his chest and said, " _I am ready."_

'Hear me my friend. Pass to the realm beyond evolution and mega evolve!' Ash thought. The key stone in Ash's hand and the mega stone on Mewtwo's chest started to glow brightly. Suddenly, a white light surrounded Mewtwo as he mega evolved.

Once the white light disappeared, Mega Mewtwo Y appeared. Mega Mewtwo Y levitated like Mew and had a purple headset instead of a tail. His body was noticeably smaller than his pre-evolved form and his eyes were now red.

Releasing his hand from his now dim key stone, Ash thought, 'Now that he has mega evolved, his psychic powers should of increased exponentially and he should now be able to communicate clearly with the clone trying to reach him.'

Mega Mewtwo Y closed his eyes and concentrated his psychic powers to communicate with the clone that tried to contact him earlier.

While looking at Mewtwo's closed eyes, Ash thought, 'Since all clone Pokemon were created the same way, Mewtwo is somewhat related to them. So, because of his psychic powers and because some of their DNA is the same, Mewtwo can sense when one of them is trying to contact him. However, in his normal form, his psychic powers are not strong enough to make out clearly what one of the clones is trying to say. As we found out years ago, this problem can be solved when he mega evolves.'

Mega Mewtwo Y opened his eyes and said, " _Meowthtwo has spotted a small Team Rocket base located in the Johto region. It seems that a group of stragglers got together to make this new base and have been stealing Pokemon from people inside Goldenrod City._ "

"Where exactly is their base located?" Ash said with a serious look on his face.

" _Just outside the city. Meowthtwo said he would meet us in the city and take us to it."_

"Ok, go gather supplies for the journey. I'll contact Mew."

White light surrounded Mega Mewtwo Y. After a couple seconds, the white light disappeared and Mewtwo stood where Mega Mewtwo Y levitated just moments before. " _You got it. I'll meet you back here as soon as I am done,_ " Mewtwo said while using psychic on himself to fly away.

Mewtwo disappeared from sight as Ash turned away and closed his eyes. 'Mew, hear me. A group of former Team Rocket members have created a base in the Johto region and are up to no good. Mewtwo and I need your help.'

Hearing Ash's thoughts, Mew teleported in front of Ash. "Me Me Mew Mew," Mew said to Ash while flying in circles in front of Ash.

Having an idea of what Mew was trying to say, Ash said, "Yeah, I thought we captured most of their members too. This has to be some of the last former members of Team Rocket that are still trying to steal Pokemon." Knowing that they could do nothing until Mewtwo returned, Ash asked, "How was your mission I sent you on going?"

"Mew Mew Me Me Mew," Mew said while bringing her right hand to her mouth and laughing.

"I am glad that you had fun on a ferries wheel," Ash said while sweatdropping. 'Of course a fair had to come to the town that Serena is resting in. I asked her to follow Serena and tell me what her next move is after resting and now Mew is going to be distracted by the fair's activities. Just my luck,' Ash thought as both of them waited for Mewtwo to returned.

* * *

Mewtwo flew into the only cave on the island and quickly landed and started packing supplies into a small bag that was inside the cave.

As Mewtwo was putting food and water into the bag, he thought, 'Its weird how Mew can sense when Ash is calling her. I mean, I can communicate with the other clone Pokemon because of our similar DNA. However, I have to mega evolve to communicate clearly with them. Mew on the other hand does not need the power increase to communicate with Ash and she can even sense Ash's strong emotions.'

Thinking he had enough food for their journey, Mewtwo quickly started to pack medical supplies such as bandaids and potions in a different small bag that was conveniently located by the other bag. 'Ash told me that Mew is able to do this because she has some of his aura in her. He said that he and a Lucario transferred some of their aura to Mew to save the Tree of Beginning during one of his previous journeys. I have a hard time believing his story though. I mean, a Lucario trapped in a staff for thousands of years and humans using aura, it sounds like a fairy tale to me,' Mewtwo thought while finishing filling the small bag with medical supplies.

Satisfied with the amount of supplies in the two bags and in a rush, Mewtwo grabbed both bags and flew towards the cave's exit.

* * *

Mewtwo returned to the clearing where Ash and Mew were. Once he was sure that Ash has noticed him, Mewtwo tossed both bags at Ash.

Ash caught both bags and lifted up his black cloak to strap both bags to his hip. Using the belt that was holding his pants up, Ash strapped the bag filled with medical supplies to his right hip and the bag filled with water and food to his left hip.

Meanwhile, Mewtwo landed on the ground by his discarded brown cloak and reached down with his right hand to pick it up. Once his hand made contact with it, Mewtwo picked it up and threw it back on to cover his body.

Once both finished their respective tasked, they both turned towards Mew.

"Mew, can you teleport us to Goldenrod City? Meowthtwo told Mewtwo to meet him their. He was the clone that contacted Mewtwo," Ash explained to Mew.

Mew nodded her head and flew towards Ash and Mewtwo, who happened to be standing right next to each other.

'Mew has been alive for many years. So, because of her curious nature, she has traveled the world and can teleport to most places in the world. At least that's what she claims,' Mewtwo thought while Mew flew towards Ash and him.

When Mew was right in front of both Mewtwo and Ash she used teleport. In a blink of an eye, all three of them disappeared from the clearing.

* * *

All three of them reappeared in an alley inside Goldenrod City. As soon as they reappeared, Mewtwo and Ash alertly looked to see if anyone saw them teleport in. Once they both notice that they were in an alley between two massive skyscrapers and that they were alone, they both let out a breath of relief.

Mew, however, flew close to the ground when she reappeared. She began to breath heavily and a look of exhaustion was seen on her face as she levitated just above the ground.

"Mew are you ok?" Ash asked.

"Mew," Mew said while nodding her.

Mewtwo looked critically at Mew and thought, 'She is always is like this after teleporting us. It must take a lot of energy to teleport all of us to far away regions. Luckily, it was a close region this time and not far away like Kalos.'

Ash's gaze softened as he looked at the tired Pokemon. "Mew transform yourself into a Pokemon that's found commonly in Johto and I'll let you ride on my shoulder until you recover," Ash softly ordered.

Following Ash's order, Mew transformed herself into a Hoppip and flew herself onto Ash's right shoulder.

A look of sadness overtook Ash's face as he thought of a certain yellow Pokemon that used to ride on his shoulder. Realizing that now was not the time to live in the past, Ash pushed the sadness back inside himself and a serious look quickly replaced the look of sadness. Reaching up, Ash pulled the hood on his cloak over his head so everything on his head but his mouth was either covered by the hood itself or the shadow created by the hood and nodded towards Mewtwo.

Mewtwo, understanding what Ash was hinting at, followed Ash's example and pulled his big hood on his head so his whole face was covered in darkness.

Satisfied with their disguises, the three of them exited the alley.

As they exited, they noticed many people walking around in the busy city. Trying not to draw attention to themselves, Ash and Mewtwo started to walk with the people.

"Mewtwo, did Meowthtwo tell you where exactly to meet him?"Ash whispered lowly so only Mewtwo and Mew could hear him.

" _He told me that he will meet us in the Goldenrod Tunnel by Bob's bakery,_ " Mewtwo said telepathically to only Ash and Mew.

Ash nodded and looked around for stairs that led to the Goldenrod Tunnel. Spotting his target about 20 yards away and slight to the right of him, Ash tapped Mewtwo's shoulder and pointed over to the staircase with his left index finger and, then, started to walk towards the staircase.

Mewtwo looked to where Ash was pointing and once he spotted the staircase, he followed Ash and Mew.

Once in front of the staircase, all three of them went down the stairs.

Once reaching the bottom, they took in the underground shopping district. Shops aligned the edges of the long tunnel and only a few people walked in between the shops browsing the many items displayed. Business was slow at the moment because it was afternoon on a weekday.

As the three of them were taking in the site of the underground shopping district, Mewtwo noticed a sign off to the left that had a map of the shopping district on it. Thinking that he could use the map to find where Bob's bakery is, Mewtwo started to walk towards it.

Ash, noticing Mewtwo walking away from him, looked where Mewtwo was going and once spotting the sign with the map on it, started to also walk towards it.

Once Ash, Mewtwo, and Mew were in front of the sign, they all looked for Bob's bakery.

Ash spotted it first and while pointing his right index finger at it, he said, "Here is Bob's bakery"-moving his right index finger from Bob's bakery to the you are here label on the sign-"and here we are. It looks likes we are about a couple blocks away from it."

After memorizing how to get there, Ash and Mewtwo turned to head there. However, before they could even take one step towards Bob's bakery, a person ran up to them.

This unknown figure had jeans and a plain white t-shirt on. His short brown hair could be seen just barely coming out of his red and white baseball cap. This guy looked to be around 10 years old and was looking intensely at "Hoppip" with his green eyes. "Is this Hoppip yours?" the guy asked Ash loudly.

Because of this loud outburst and because it was not very loud in the tunnel to begin with, people stopped talking around them and were now looking at the group.

Not knowing how to respond, Ash first looked at Mew and then at Mewtwo with a questioning gaze.

" _Say yes, Ash. With this kid attracting some attention and with Team Rocket stealing Pokemon from this city, it would look bad if you said no,_ " Mewtwo said only to Ash and Mew.

Ash, following Mewtwo's advise, looked at the person who asked him the question and said, "Yes, she is mine."-Ash turned his head to look at Mew-"Right Hoppip."

"Ho Hoppip," Mew said while jumping up and down on Ash's shoulder and nodding her head profusely.

"Well if that's the case, I future Pokemon Master Ryan challenge you to a Pokemon battle!" Ryan said loudly while pointing his right index finger at Ash.

. . .

Ash was speechless at the challenge. Being challenged to a Pokemon battle by a kid that has so far acted like his former self made him think of the many Pokemon battles that he had with his friend Pikachu. Feeling his emotions becoming unstable and not wanting to make a scene in front of the small crowd, Ash turned his back to everyone and said in a monotone voice, "Sorry, but I can't battle right now. I have something important I have to do right now."

"Ho hoppip," Mew said seriously while jumping off Ash's shoulder and turning to look at Mewtwo.

Mewtwo nodded his head and closed his eyes. 'Mew thinks that this might be a possible code red, huh. Please let everything turn out ok. I really hate doing this,' Mewtwo thought while focusing his psychic powers.

Thinking wrongly that Ash was dismissing him coldly and not wanting to be shot down in front of the small crowd, Ryan said, "I think your just scared to take me on! I wouldn't blame you. I am a future Pokemon Master!"

"Sorry kid, but I can't," Ash replied evenly. With each passing word said by Ryan, Ash thought more and more about his battles with Pikachu and his body started to shake more and more.

Still thinking that he was being dismissed coldly and feeling a little embarrassed by being rejected in front of an audience, Ryan said angrily, "What is with your attitude? I only wanted one feeble Pokemon Battle! Are you too much of a jerk to accept my challenge? You're a terrible person!"

Being called a terrible person struck a chord in Ash. Hearing someone call him that felt much worse than thinking it. The words "you're a terrible person" were echoing throughout his head, as tears started to fall from his eyes. "Please, just stop," Ash pleaded.

'Hang on, Ash, I am almost ready,' Mewtwo thought with his eyes still close.

Too work up at this point to stop, Ryan shouted angrily, "I BET THAT HOPPIP OF YOURS ONLY ACTS HAPPY BECAUSE IT IS AFRAID OF WHAT YOU WOULD DO TO IT LATER IF IT DIDN'T! I FEEL BAD FOR ANY POKEMON THAT GET STUCK WITH YOU AS ITS TRAINER! YOU PROBABLY ONLY HURT THEM!"

The words "you probably only hurt them" and "you're a terribly person" kept on echoing throughout Ash's head profusely. Ash felt something crack inside of him and he fell onto his hands and knees. He started to cry uncontrollably and a tiny puddle started to form on the ground below Ash's face; his body was now shaking like a leaf in the wind. "I am sorry Pikachu. . . I failed you. . . I am so sorry," Ash whispered while repeating the last line over and over again.

Feeling Ash's sadness because of their connection, Mew transformed back to her original form and flew towards Ash and patted his back. Tears were also coming out of her eyes.

The crowd gasped at the sight of the broken man and the now revealed legendary Pokemon.

Mewtwo, having no choice now that he felt Mew transformed back into her original form, opened his now glowing white eyes and released the psychic energy he stored up onto everyone in the vicinity, but Ash and Mew. The psychic energy came from Mewtwo to its targets like a wave of white light and once hitting its targets, caused them to become brainwashed.

The brainwashed people's eyes were now glossed over and they stood like zombies waiting for their master to give them their orders.

Once sure that everyone in the vicinity but Ash and Mew were brainwashed, Mewtwo raised his right hand and while pointing at Ash, used psychic on him to levitate him. Ash followed Mewtwo's right hand as Mewtwo moved it towards a single all gender bathroom.

With his left hand, Mewtwo pointed at the bathroom door and used psychic to open it. Once open, Mewtwo flew Ash into the bathroom and set him down on the ground.

Ash, having no awareness of his surrounding because of his grief, didn't notice himself being flown towards the bathroom or once inside the bathroom, being placed on his bottom on the bathroom floor. All Ash could focus on was his failure.

Mew followed closely behind Ash and flew towards Ash's chest when he was set down.

Ash felt something collide against his chest, but seeking comfort, he didn't look at who it was and brought his arms around Mew and cried while holding her tightly.

Mewtwo looked at the sad scene of Ash embracing Mew with sad eyes. However, knowing he had to deal with the people he brainwashed before more people came, Mewtwo quickly erased the brainwashed people's minds of Ash, Mew, and himself.

Once finished, Mewtwo turned to run towards the bathroom that he placed Ash was in. About halfway to his destination, Mewtwo stopped and an internal debate raged inside himself. Making up his mind, Mewtwo turned towards Ryan and ordered him to move towards a small stand that was selling onigiri (rice balls). Once Ryan was in front of the onigiri stand, Mewtwo ordered him to eat all of the stores onigiri.

Obediently following his master's orders, Ryan took onigiri after onigiri into his hands and stuff them in his mouth. He ate at such a fast pace that if he was bigger and was black with a white stomach, he could pass as a Snorlax. Onigiri pieces covered Ryan's face and shirt after he impressively finished eating all of the stores 47 onigiri in under a minute!

Fully satisfied with his work, Mewtwo once again turned towards the bathroom where Ash and Mew were in and started to run towards. Once inside the bathroom, Mewtwo shut the door behind him. Looking at Mew and Ash, Mewtwo noticed that they haven't moved since he last saw them and tears were still flowing down both of their faces. While looking at Mew, Mewtwo thought, 'Mew's connection with Ash allows her to sense Ash's strong emotions. That kid's words must have brought Ash's full grief to the surface for Mew to act like this.'

Mewtwo's eyes once again started to glow white as Mewtwo released his control over everyone that he brainwashed. Instantly, Mewtwo heard a conversation that he was very interested in.

"YOU ATE ALL OF MY ONIGIRI!"

"S-Sorry, I-I don't know-w what-t c-came over me-e."

"ALL YOU CAN SAY IS, 'SORRY, I DON'T KNOW WHAT CAME OVER ME'! YOU OWE ME 70 DOLLARS AND 50 CENTS!"

"I-I don't h-have any money-y on m-me."

"THEN YOUR GOING TO WORK HERE UNTIL YOU PAYED BACK EVERY CENT YOU OWE ME."

Mewtwo smirked as he listened to the conversion between Ryan and the onigiri owner. 'I am so glad that I ordered that jerk to eat all of that stand's onigiri. Best decision I have ever made.'

Seeing that Ash and Mew have now cried themselves to sleep, Mewtwo thought, 'Well it looks like we are going to be here for awhile.'

Not having the heart to wake Mew or Ash up from their sleep and needing to recharge after using so much of his powers, Mewtwo raised his right hand at the bathroom door's lock and used psychic to lock the door. He then sat down, crossed his legs, and closed his eye while facing the bathroom's door.

'I am glad all of those people I brainwashed were weak minded and their were only eleven people who saw Ash break down and Mew reveal herself. When I close my eyes to gather psychic energy, I can sense how much I am going to need to brainwash whomever I am trying to control. The stronger the mind and the more numerous the people, the longer it takes to gather up enough psychic energy to brainwash them. I hope this is the last time I have to perform code red again. I hate controlling people against their will. It makes me feel like Giovanni,' Mewtwo thought before clearing his mind to meditate.


	4. Arc 1:3 Ash's Life

**Sorry for the late update, but I have been busy. Hopefully I can make it up to you by posting a good amount of chapters in the next few weeks. By the way, feel free to PM me if you want to discuss the story and feel free to leave criticism. I am pretty thick skinned. So, I would not be offended by any criticism. Anyways, enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon or anything associated with it.**

After a couple hours, Ash, Mewtwo, and, Mew exited the bathroom they were in. Mew has transformed back into a Hoppip and has resumed her place on Ash's right shoulder. Mewtwo and Ash still had their hood on and, immediately, both noticed that their were more people now than before in the tunnel. They both started to walk in the direction of Bob's bakery.

While walking past the onigiri stand that Mewtwo made Ryan eat all of the onigiri from, Ash noticed Ryan sweeping a broom in front of the stand with a defeated look on his face. Knowing that Mewtwo probably had something to do with this, Ash turned his head towards Mewtwo and said lowly, "Do I even want to know?"

Mewtwo, knowing what Ash was referring to, said with no regret, " _He deserved it._ "

Ash sweetdropped at Mewtwo's response and while thinking of all the embarrassing things Mewtwo could make him do, he whispered to Mew, "Remind me to never piss off Mewtwo in the future."

Mew, silently laughing at the thought of Mewtwo making Ash pee his pants in public, nodded her head and, with a devious smile on her face, said, "Hoppip."

Ash, seeing her smile, thought, 'Why do I feel like I can't trust her?'

Completely passing the onigiri stand and Ryan, the three of them continued their journey to Bob's bakery.

* * *

After about 20 minutes, the three of them reached Bob's bakery. While everyone was looking around for Meowthtwo, Mewtwo noticed a light flashing in his eyes. With his curiosity now peaked, Mewtwo noticed that the light was coming from some trash cans in a corner. Thinking that it was Meowthtwo signaling him, Mewtwo said to Ash and Mew, "He's by the trash cans."

Ash and Mew, trusting Mewtwo, nodded their heads and the three of them made their way towards the trash cans.

Looking behind the trash cans, the three of them saw Meowthtwo sitting their with a flashlight in one front paw and saw the other front paw by his face so he could lick it clean. After cleaning his paw, Meowthtwo sat up straight and said in greeting to his friends, "Meowth."

Ash smiled at the cat Pokemon and said, "It's good to see you again Meowthtwo."

Mewtwo grunted in acknowledgement and Mew jumped up and down on Ash's shoulder and said excitedly in greeting "Hoppip!"

Getting down to business, Ash's smile disappeared and he said to Meowthtwo, "I wish we had time to catch up, but we need to stop Team Rocket. Could you lead us to their base?"

"Me Meowth," Meowthtwo said while nodding his head and getting up to lead everyone to Team Rocket's base.

Meowthtwo walked out from behind the trash cans and was about to begin walking towards Team Rocket's base when a shout caught his and the three by him's attention.

"HEY, THAT PERSON STOLE MY POKEMON!"

The four of them looked to where the shout came from and saw a kid pointing at a person fleeing the scene.

Mewtwo quickly sprung into action and began chasing after the person running away while Ash and Meowthtwo ran up to the kid that shouted.

"What happened?" Ash asked the kid while "Hoppip" jumped off his shoulder and onto the ground.

The kid looked at Ash and said, "I was minding my own business when all of sudden I felt someone collide with me. This person knocked me over and I landed hard on my butt. Immediately, this person apologized for running into me and held out his hand to help me up. I grabbed his hand and he pulled me up. I told him that it was alright and, after apologizing once more, this person began walking away. Dusting myself off, I noticed that my Pokemon were missing from my belt and told the guy who collided with me to stop. After saying that, the guy immediately started to run away and I screamed. After that, you showed up." After finishing, the kid looked down with a sad look on his face.

Seeing the kid's face, Ash put a comforting hand on his shoulder and said, "Don't worry. My friend will get your Pokemon back."

* * *

Dodging people left and right, Mewtwo kept on pursuing the fleeing thief.

'With how low the ceiling is and with how many people now here, it would be unwise to increase my speed by flying after him. Additionally, the numerous people makes it hard to get a clear shot on him to stop him with psychic. So, my best bet is to get close enough to him to tackle him.'

With those thoughts in mind, Mewtwo ran fast enough to gain ground on the thief, but not too fast where he couldn't dodge people in the way.

Trying to figure out if anyone was pursuing him, the thief looked backwards and, instantly, noticed that not only was someone pursuing him, but was gaining on him! Fearing being caught, the thief increased his speed and started throwing people in front of him to the side instead of going around them.

Mewtwo adjusted his speed accordingly and, using his great reflexes and coordination, Mewtwo either jumped over people on the ground or expertly weaved left or right around people.

Looking back at his progress, the thief was stunned that his pursuer was still gaining at him. Now sweating, the thief started knocking down stands in hope that it would trip up his unrelenting pursuer.

Not slowly down at all, Mewtwo used psychic to gently push anything that he couldn't dodge to the side. By now, he closed the distance between him and the thief and was now within tackling range.

What happened next went in slow motion for Mewtwo. As Mewtwo tensed his legs to jump and tackle the thief, the thief turned around and, with his attention now on Mewtwo, the thief ran into a mother with a child in her arms. The collision caused the mother to throw her child in the air behind Mewtwo and caused the thief to stumble and kick a Magby that happened to be next to the mother.

At once, Mewtwo slide to a stop and turned around. Using psychic, he gently lowered the child thrown to the ground. Simultaneously, the Magby that was kicked used smokescreen in its confusion and the thief caught himself from falling and continued his mission of getting away.

As soon as the child was set down, Mewtwo turned around to continue his pursuit of the thief. Noticing the smokescreen, Mewtwo quickly ran in it.

Bumping into people as he tried to navigate his way through the smokescreen, Mewtwo thought, 'I have to hurry. The longer I stay in this smokescreen, the more time I give the Pokemon thief to get away.'

Reaching the end of the smokescreen, Mewtwo's eyes widened under his hood as he noticed that he came to an intersection in the tunnel. Hoping to spot the thief, Mewtwo looked down the three paths. Not seeing the thief, Mewtwo thought, 'I could guess a path and continue my pursuit, but that only gives me a 33 percent chance of being right. Plus, even if I guess the right path, this tunnel and the people in it would make it almost impossible for me to catch up to him now.'

Mewtwo sighed and thought, 'The best course of action would be to regroup with Ash and the others and have Meowthtwo lead us to where the base is.'

With that thought in mind, Mewtwo turned around and started to make his way back to the others.

* * *

Once spotting Mewtwo, Ash pointed at Mewtwo and said, "Here comes my friend now."

Mewtwo's shoulders slightly tensed and the kid who lost his Pokemon looked up with hope in his eyes after Ash said those words.

Being around Mewtwo for a long time allowed Ash to pick up on Mewtwo's shoulders tensing and, seeing this, Ash feared the worse.

However, the kid, unfortunately, did not notice Mewtwo's shoulders tensing and continue to look at Mewtwo with hopeful eyes.

Coming to a stop in front of the kid and taking a second to think of what to say, Mewtwo said, " _I am sorry. I could not recover your stolen Pokemon._ "

Instantly, the kid looked down and fought to hold back tears as he whispered, "Cyndaquil and Hoothoot I am so s-sorry I couldn't prevent you from being taking away. I guess my mother was right. . . I am not ready to go on a journey."

Hearing enough, Ash stepped in front of the kid and took off his hood. Ash, then, lowered himself to the kid's level and put one hand on each of the kid's shoulders.

Feeling the added pressure on his shoulders, the kid looked up into Ash's serious expression.

Looking directly into the kid's eyes, Ash said, "Are you just going to give up now that your journey has gotten tough?"

After looking away for a second in thought and then looking back into the kid's eyes, Ash continued, "Standing hear crying about it will not bring your Cyndaquil and Hoothoot back."- shaking the kid's shoulder lightly-"You need to persevere and find the strength to save your friends that were taken away."

"H-How?" Jake said with confusion.

Seeing his confusion, Ash smiled and countered his question by asking, "What is your name?"

Looking at Ash's disarming smile, the kid replied, "Jake."

"Well Jake, only you know the answer to that question," Ash said while standing up straight.

"That doesn't help at all. How can someone as small as me ever have enough strength to save my Pokemon," Jake said while lowering his head in frustration.

Looking down at Jake with a look of determination, Ash said, "I swear to you that I will return your Pokemon to you."

Jake looked up in shock from Ash's promise.

"Me Meowth."

"Ho Hoppip."

" _We also swear to do everything we can to preserve your_ _bond_ _with your Pokemon_ ," Mewtwo declared.

Jake looked from Meowthtwo to Mewtwo to "Hoppip" in shock at their devotion to help.

Ash smiled and nodded his head in appreciation towards his friends. Then, he turned his back towards Jake to walk away. Before walking away, Ash turned his head back towards Jake and said, "You know outward strength isn't the only strength. True strength comes from within. Never give up until it's over."

Jake could only look on with shock.

After saying this, Ash moved his head to look forward and raised his hands to put his hood back on. Once his hood was back on, Ash started to walk forward with his friends following behind him.

Once they were a good amount of distance away from Jake, Ash said, "Meowthtwo, lead onwards to Team Rocket's base."

Meowthtwo nodded his head and moved to walk in front of the group.

With a serious look on his face, Ash thought, while tracing his scar on his face and walking towards Team Rocket's base, 'I will save your Pokemon Jake. No one should forcefully be separated from their best friends.'


	5. Arc 1:4 Ash's Life

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon or anything associated with it.**

It took about an hour for Meowthtwo to lead Ash, Mewtwo, and Mew to Team Rocket's base. By now, it was evening and the sun had set below the horizon about 40 minutes into their journey here. The group, at the moment, is peaking out from some bushes to inspect the base. Mew has transformed back into her original form and Ash and Mewtwo have pulled their hoods down. Noticing two guards standing at the front entrance of the base and seeing that the base looked small like Meowthtwo said, the group contemplates their next move.

Mewtwo took charge and as he simultaneously drew his plan in the dirt, he said, " _Ok, the best way to get pass the guards will be for Ash to make some noise by some nearby bushes. Hopefully, that will catch the guards attention and get one of them to investigate. . ._ "

Mew rolled her eyes and as Mewtwo was going over his plan, she decided to act and teleported behind one of the guards. Then, she got rid of him by teleporting the guard and herself to one of the prisons in Goldenrod City.

"Uhm, Mewtwo," Ash whispers trying to get his attention.

However, Mewtwo ignored him and continued to draw out and explain his plan. " _Then, I will sneak up on the guard who went and investigated and knock him out with psychic. . ._ "

Ash tried getting Mewtwo's attention again, but Mewtwo once again ignored him. Seeing Mew teleport behind the other guard before he even noticed his partner was gone and teleporting him away like the first guard, Ash just shook his head at Mewtwo for being oblivious to Mew taking care of the guards.

" _Finally, Ash will dress up as the guard I knocked out and get close to the other guard and knock him out before he gets suspicious. Ok, any question?_ " Mewtwo asks as he looks up.

By now, Mew has returned to her previous spot with the group and says, "Mew Me Me Mew?"

Mewtwo brings his hand to his face in a thinking pose as he answers Mew's question, " _I suppose you can cover us and teleport us away if things go south._ "

"Meeee," Meowthtwo snickered as he tried to hold in a laugh.

Mewtwo turns towards Meowthtwo and whispers angrily, " _What's so funny? If you have a better plan let's hear it._ "

"Meowth Me Meowth," Meowthtwo said. After saying this, he started to laugh uncontrollably.

Turning towards Mew, Mewtwo whispers in confusion, " _What does he mean when he says that you have a better plan?_ "

Mew just points towards the front entrance of the base.

Finally turning to look at the front entrance of the base, Mewtwo's eyes widen when he notices that both guards are gone. Turning back towards Mew in confusion, he says, " _How. . . when. . .you know what, I don't care._ " Regaining his composure, Mewtwo walks out from behind the bushes and walks towards the front entrance of the base.

Meanwhile, Mew brings a hand in front of her face and giggles at seeing Mewtwo's confusion while Meowthtwo continued to laugh. After a couple seconds of giggling, Mew regains her composure and follows after Mewtwo.

Ash shakes his head at the scene and try as he may, he could not stop a smile from forming on his face. He then turns towards Meowthtwo and says, "Thank you for leading us here. We will take it from here."

Meowthtwo, recovered from his laughing fit, scratches an itch that he had behind his ear. Then, he sits down and nods his head in acceptance, knowing that he wouldn't be much help in taking out the base.

Not wanting to fall behind, Ash moves to follow Mew and Mewtwo into the base.

* * *

Inside the base, the group of three walks/levitates by each other down a hallway. Ash is in the center of the group and Mewtwo and Mew are right and left of him respectively.

Moving his head towards Ash, Mewtwo says, " _So, what is the plan?_ "

Ash looks at Mewtwo and says with determination, "Capture all of Team Rocket's members here and return all capture Pokemon to their owners."

Mewtwo sweatdrops at Ash's "plan" and says with annoyance , " _So, you don't actually have a plan._ "

Not deflating one bit, Ash confidently responds, "Nope."

Coming to a door at the end of the hallway, the group notices that there is a lot of noise coming from the other side of the door.

Shrugging his shoulders, Ash says, "How hard could taking out this small base be? Compared to taking out Team Rocket's main headquarters, this should be a breeze." Reaching up, Ash opens the door.

The door loudly squeaks as Ash pushes it open and the noise that the group heard just moments before ceases when the door opens.

On the other side of the door is a cafeteria with a high ceiling and at least 20 members of Team Rocket (Team Rocket grunts) stop talking and eating their dinner and turn towards the group by the door. For a moment no ones move as they just stare at each other.

The Team Rocket members blink.

Then, Ash, Mewtwo, and Mew blink.

Suddenly, a Team Rocket member takes charge and shouts, "DON'T JUST STARE AT THEM! GET THEM!"

That shout snapped both sides out of the trance that they were in and both sides leapt into action.

The Team Rocket grunts moved to stand in front of the group by the door and simultaneously, they grabbed their poke balls from their belt. Throwing them into the air, the Team Rocket members released their Pokemon. At once, the cafeteria were filled with many Golbats, Zubats, Ekans, Arboks, Koffings, Weezings, Rattatas,and Raticates.

Taking charge, Ash says, "Mewtwo, take care of the Pokemon. Mew, cover Mewtwo and I's back and make sure none of the Team Rocket members escape. I'll take care of the grunts." Looking at the grunts and their Pokemon with determination, Ash continued, "Remember what we are fighting for and will get through this together."

Mewtwo and Mew nodded. Using psychic, Mewtwo flew towards the enemy's Pokemon and brought his hands to the side to prepare shadow balls. Simultaneously, Mew teleported herself high into the air to get a better view of everything going on in the cafeteria and Ash ran to the side with the plan of bypassing the Pokemon and taking out the Team Rocket members.

Swaying left and right, Mewtwo dodged attacks that the grunts ordered their Pokemon to fire at him. Seeing an Ekans launch an acid attack at him, Mewtwo swayed to the left to dodge it and fired a shadow ball at the Ekans. The shadow ball hit its target and the Ekans collapsed with swirls in its eyes.

Suddenly, Mewtwo felt something coming at him from behind. Flying downwards, Mewtwo dodged a Golbat that tried to hit it with crunch.

Before he could retaliate, a group of Zubats launched a combine swift at him. Mewtwo lifted one of his hand and used psychic to stop the attack and send it back towards its user with double the speed. The now faster swift hit the Zubats and they all fell towards the ground with swirls in their eyes.

While this was happening, a group of Koffings snuck up behind Mewtwo and launched a combine smokescreen at him. Getting surrounded by smoke, Mewtwo coughed and flew to the side in hope of escaping the smoke. Flying out of the smoke, his eyes widen when their was a group of Rattatas and Raticates not only waiting for him, but charging up hyper beam attacks. Not fully recovered from inhaling so much smoke, all he could do was cross his hands in front of his chest in a feeble attempt to protect himself.

However, the hyper beams only hit air. Before they hit Mewtwo, Mew quickly teleported beside Mewtwo. Then, teleported herself and Mewtwo out of their just before the hyper beams would have collided with them.

Mewtwo and Mew reappeared on the ground by the door they first used to enter. After nodding his head in thanks towards Mew, Mewtwo used psychic to fly at the group of Pokemon again. Checking on Ash's progress, Mew looked over to where Ash was and seeing that he needed help, teleported towards him.

Just when Ash thought he could reach the grunts before they noticed him, he came upon a group of Arboks and Weezings blocking his way. 'Of course it had to be these Pokemon,' Ash thought while thinking of Jessie and James.

Just before he moved to charge at them, Mew appeared next to him. They both looked at each other and unspoken words were passed between them. Nodding their heads, they both turned towards the Pokemon and charged.

As Ash was charging, he noticed that an Arbok was coming at him with a bite attack and aiming for his head. Ash quickly crouched down and the bite attack went over him. Before he had time to think, Ash did a somersault and dodged a Weezing that tried to attack him with tackle.

At this point, Mew helped Ash out by using taunt on all of the Weezings and Arboks. This made them all get angry at Mew and all of them turned their attention towards Mew, completely forgetting about Ash. The Arboks and Weezings, then, started launching attack after attack at Mew. Known for her trickery, Mew used baton pass to switch herself out with a nearby Weezing and Arbok anytime an attack was launched at her. After doing this a couple of times, the Arboks and Weezings started to attack each other over frustration of hitting each other. Using the diversion that Mew gave him, Ash ran past the Pokemon and towards the grunts.

Once in range, Ash started to attack them. At first, the grunts were too focus on ordering their Pokemon to attack Mewtwo or trying to get the Pokemon that Mew trick under control to bother with him, but this soon changed after Ash knocked out a few grunts.

Aiming a left hook, Ash connected with a grunt's face and sent him flying. Two grunts, then, came charging at him with each of them throwing a punch. Ash saw them coming and reached out and grabbed both fists that were aimed at him. Wrapping his hands around their fists, Ash forced both of them together and then connected a devastating kick to both of their chests that sent them flying backwards into a wall. Hitting the wall with great force, both were instantly knocked out.

While Ash still had one of his legs in the air, a grunt tried to get the jump on him. Charging Ash from the side, the grunt went to tackle him to the ground.

Ash saw him coming and with one leg, jumped backwards onto his hands. Then, pushing off his hands, he moved backwards onto his feet.

Ash, suddenly, crouched as a fist from behind went over his head. Ash, reacting fast, reached up and grabbed the arm over him. Then, pulling on the arm, Ash threw the grunt that tried to punch him over his shoulder and onto the ground. With a quick strike with his fist, the grunt was knocked out. Standing back up, Ash looked at the remaining grunts with a glare that was scarier than any glare attack.

With a fearful look, the rest of the grunts contemplated their next move.

In this stage of the battle, some grunts tried to flee the scene knowing that they were outmatched against Ash. However, every time they reached a door or window, they were teleported in front of Ash by Mew.

Meanwhile, with the grunts now not giving orders to their Pokemon, their battle against Mewtwo became even more one sided as Mewtwo carved through them like a knife through warm butter.

Ash, Mewtwo, and Mew where now fully in control of the battle and all three knew it wouldn't be long before all the grunts and their Pokemon were defeated.

* * *

After about 20 minutes, all of the grunts and their Pokemon were knocked out. As Ash, Mewtwo, and Mew stood/levitated next to each other, they were breathing hard and trying to catch their breath. All around them laid bodies of fallen Pokemon and grunts.

As their breathing returned to normal, Ash turned towards Mew and said in a business like tone, "Mew, return the knock out Pokemon back into their poke balls and make sure none of the grunts wake up and escape." Looking ahead towards the door that led further into the base, Ash said in a serious tone, "Someone must have been leading these grunts. There is no way that these grunts could gather so many Team Rocket members." Raising a clenched fist in front of his chest, Ash continued with determination and with anger. "Mewtwo and I will finish this and rescue the stolen Pokemon."

After saying this, Ash walked forward towards the door that led further into the base with Mewtwo behind him.

Mew could only look on with worry in her eyes as Ash and Mewtwo went onwards towards the final battle. As soon as Ash and Mewtwo went through the door and out of sight, Mew went to work with her assigned job. All the while, praying to Arceus for Ash and Mewtwo's safety.


	6. Arc 1:5 Ash's Life

**I had a lot of fun writing this chapter and thought it came out really well. I may have gone a little overboard and made this chapter very long, but hopefully its ok. Anyways, here is the last chapter of this arc.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or anything associated with it.**

Ash and Mewtwo continued their journey into the base with the plan of stopping the leader and returning the stolen Pokémon back to their owner. However, even though they both were filled with determination to complete their mission, an uneasy feeling washed over them as they walked through an eerie hallway to their final battle.

The hallway had one working light that hung from ceiling that barley lit up a path for them to follow and kept the edges of the hallway submerged in total darkness. Also. . .

*buzz*

The light would fade off and on as they walked.

"I don't like this," Ash said as the light came back on.

Looking ahead to their unknown destination, Mewtwo said, " _Don't worry. Based on how big the base looked from the outside, we must almost be there. Especially, since we already passed the living quarters._ "

Gesturing to the dark spot at the end of the hallway, Ash replied, "Yeah, but where exactly is there."

*buzz*

"Your right to be afraid Ash Ketchum." A voice said clearly in the darkness.

*buzz*

"Did you hear that?" Ash said while looking around intensely for anyone.

While also looking around, Mewtwo replied, " _Unfortunately, yes._ "

*buzz*

*bam* *crash*

*bam* *crash*

*buzz*

'So fast,' Ash thought as he looked over from his down positions to where Mewtwo was down.

Rubbing a bruise on his cheek and standing up, Ash thought, 'And strong.'

While raising his hands up and bending his knees in a stance that would allow him to react quickly, Ash said, "Mewtwo, ready yourself. He might have gotten the jump on us before, but it won't happen again."

Mewtwo nodded his head and stood up. Looking around intently at the shadows for movement, Mewtwo readied a shadow ball.

*buzz*

*swoosh* *bam* *crash*

*boom* *bam* *crash*

*buzz*

While laying on the ground once again, Ash thought, 'To be able to dodge my strike and then counter so efficiently in the darkness.'

Getting to his hands and knee, Ash looked over to where Mewtwo was also starting to get up from his position on the ground. Seeing a spot by Mewtwo that was black and still slightly smoking, Ash thought, 'Also, to dodge Mewtwo's shadow ball and knock him down with such ease.'

Slamming a fist into the ground with anger, Ash thought, 'There is only one person I know that could do that!'

Standing up, both prepared for another round with their mysterious enemy.

*buzz*

*swoosh* *swoosh*

*boom* *swoosh*

*buzz*

Seeing that Mewtwo also dodged last rounds attacks, Ash shouted, "Come on out Giovanni, you coward! No more games! Face me like a man!"

Expecting Giovanni to come out after his shout, Ash was first surprised that no one came out of the shadows. Then, he was confused when a clearly feminine voice answered him.

"While I am insulted that you assumed I am a man, I guess I could let it slide since you put me at the same level as the great Giovanni."

Hearing footsteps that led further into the hallway, the voice continued, "Fine, no more games. Come now and see the last opponent you will ever face." A couple seconds after those words were said, a room at the end of the hallway lit up.

With no words exchange between them, both Ash and Mewtwo walked forward to battle their mysterious opponent and save the stolen Pokémon.

* * *

Walking out from the hallway, both Ash and Mewtwo were both initially blinded from the bright lights. However, after a couple seconds, their eyes adjusted and they looked around at their surroundings.

"A battle field? Is she expecting a Pokémon battle from us?" Ash thought out loud while looking at the giant battle field in front of him and the stands around him.

"No, not a Pokémon battle," a female voice said from the other side of the battle field.

With a click, the roof to the big stadium started to open and the bright lights that originally illuminated the stadium turned off.

The roof slowly opened to reveal the night sky. Not a cloud was in sight on this clear night and the full moon and stars shone brightly down on Ash and Mewtwo.

Finally, with a loud click, the roof became fully open and a woman stepped out from the shadows and into the light of the moon and stars. Throwing a black tulip into the center of the battle field, the women finished her earlier statement, "A fight for survival."

" _The Black Tulip_ ," Mewtwo said with a sneer at the elite officer of Team Rocket.

"No! Its just Domino now, thanks to you two and Mew!" The now identified Domino said with anger.

Caught off guard by Domino being here, Ash asked in confusion, "What are you doing here, Domino? With your skill at disguising and acting, you could of easily lived a normal life. Why continue to steal?"

"Isn't it obvious why I am here, Ash Ketchum," Domino said while pressing a button on her sleeve.

Instantly, the black tulip in the middle of the battle field fired some sort of blue blast of energy at Ash and Mewtwo.

The blast came at Ash and Mewtwo quickly, but they were quicker. Jumping to one side, Ash dodged right of it. While jumping to the other side, Mewtwo dodged left of it. With both out of the way, the blast flew between Ash and Mewtwo and collided with the ceiling above the hallway that they just came from. With a loud grunt, the damaged ceiling collapsed and completely filled the entrance of the hallway with rubble. Also, with the collapse, the air surrounding Mewtwo and Ash became full of smoke.

Coughing and wiping at his closed eyes, Ash tried to clear the dirt (from the smoke) from his lungs and eyes respectively. As the smoke cleared and his vision came back, Ash was greeted with a fist to the face.

Flying backwards, Ash's back hit the walls of the stadium with a loud smacking sound. Sliding down to the ground, Ash's head lowered and he grunted loudly from the pain he felt in his back and face.

"You three took everything from me, Ash Ketchum," Domino said as she wiped off the dust on her hands from punching Ash.

"My friends. . . my home. . . my career. . . all gone. How could you expect me to move on after losing everything?" Domino said while getting angry.

"It may have taken some years to get the necessary resources to be able to extract my revenge. It also toke some time to gather enough Team Rocket members to gain your attention, but I knew it would be worth it," Domino continued while getting ready to attack again.

"Prepare yourself, Ash Ketchum! For you will not see the light of the next day!" Domino finished while charging at Ash's down position.

'Your not the only one to have everything taken from you, Domino,' Ash thought while tracing the scar on his face and remembering Pikachu.

By now, Domino was in front of Ash and aiming a fist at his face.

Snapping his head up suddenly, Ash saw the fist coming. Reacting quickly, Ash caught the fist aimed at him in one of his hands. Squeezing the fist tightly so Domino couldn't pull away, Ash stood up quickly. Then, with his empty hand, Ash aimed a fist at Domino's face.

Caught off guard at Ash's quick recovery and reversal, Domino could do nothing, but close her eyes and turn her head as the fist came closer to her face.

As his fist made contact with Domino's face, Ash released the fist he had a hold of and Domino flew backwards from the collision.

'Like you, I known the feeling of lose. That is why I will stop you from ever being able to inflict the same pain on anyone else ever again,' Ash thought as he remembered his promise to Jake.

Sliding backwards on her feet, Domino made to stop her backward progress. "Don't think this battle will be easy for you," Domino said as she slide to a stop. "I aim to win," Domino said as she started to charge at Ash again.

"The same goes to you," Ash said as he also charged at Domino.

The moon and stars shone down brightly on them as they charged at each other.

* * *

Meanwhile

Mewtwo coughed and had one eye opened as he waited for the smoke to clear.

Suddenly, from the smoke, a hyper beam was shot at him.

Raising one of his hands and using psychic, Mewtwo aimed to stop it and send it back, but the attack was too strong for him to stop. Reacting quickly, Mewtwo instead used psychic to redirect it. With great strain, Mewtwo was successful and the hyper beam went right of him and exploded in the stands of the stadium.

'What ever fired that attack was no normal Pokémon. To be strong enough to fire an attack that I couldn't stop, that Pokémon must be at a high level,' Mewtwo concluded as the smoked cleared. Once cleared, Mewtwo's eyes widened and his shoulder tensed at what stood opposite of him.

Standing on the other side of Mewtwo were 14 Dragonites and 6 Tyranitars! Each of them looked to be at a high level and angry at him.

Taking a calming breath, Mewtwo relaxed and prepared himself to do battle.

Now calm, Mewtwo used psychic to fly at the group of pseudo Pokemon while preparing shadow balls.

The Dragonites and Tyranitars responded by taking flight and charging up dark pulses respectively.

'I have to take the Dragonites out first,' Mewtwo thought while flying towards his opponents. 'With Tyranitar being a dark type, my psychic attacks will have no effect and my shadow ball will only do half the damage to them. Also, their dark type moves will do double the damage to me. My only chance will be to take air superiority by taking out the Dragonites. Then, use my superior speed to take out the Tyranitars,' Mewtwo concluded.

Flying fast, Mewtwo fired two super charged shadow balls at the nearest Dragonite. Coming at incredibly speeds and with pin point accuracy, the shadow balls hit the Dragonite and caused a mini explosion that covered the Dragonite in smoke. 'One down,' Mewtwo thought as he flew past the explosion.

As he prepared two more shadow balls for the next Dragonite, he suddenly was blasted with a hyper beam from behind. The blast caused the shadow balls in his hands to dissipate and caused him to fall towards the ground. As he fell, the Tyranitars released their dark pulse they charged up and the combine force of 6 dark pulses came screaming at Mewtwo in a huge blast.

Mewtwo saw them coming and quickly used psychic to stop his decent. Knowing he couldn't deflect such an attack with psychic, Mewtwo tried to doge by flying out of the way. However, he wasn't quick enough and the edge of the dark pulse attack nicked him and caused him to fly out of control and into the stands of the stadium. Crashing hard, Mewtwo broke through the concrete and caused a mini explosion where he hit.

Looking at the scratches, Mewtwo assess the damage to himself. Feeling that he was alright, Mewtwo stood up from the crater he was in and prepared himself to fly again.

'I have to be more careful next time,' Mewtwo thought as he flew into the sky once again. Looking at the Dragonite that he thought he knocked out before and thinking about how this Dragonite must have been the one to blast him with hyper beam, Mewtwo said to himself, " _These Pokemon are strong. Next time I will make sure they are knocked out before I turn my back to them._ "

Preparing for round two, Mewtwo silently hoped that Ash was fairing better than he currently was.

* * *

Tuning out their surrounding, Ash and Domino both charged at each other with thoughts of winning.

As they closed the distance between them, both cocked back and fired their right fist at the other's face.

In an impressive display of coordination, both, simultaneously, blocked the others attack by reaching up with their left hand and catching the other's fist.

Domino, reacting fast, jumped backwards onto her hands. Then, she pushed off of her hands and back onto her feet.

Ash, not wanting to give her any space, quickly followed after her and aimed a fist at her ribs.

Seeing the fist coming, Domino turned her torso and dodged it.

Not giving up, Ash aimed his other fist at Domino's head.

Smirking, Domino dogged the fist by moving her head out of the way.

Seeing her smirk, Ash grew frustrated and became the aggressor. Launching punch after punch, Ash aimed to connect and wipe that stupid smirk off her face.

While still smirking, Domino weaved her way out of every strike Ash launched. Seeing a jab aimed at her ribs, Domino dodged by turning her torso. While still turned, she saw a jab coming towards her face. Bending her head back, she dodged it. Seeing Ash's other fist coming at her face and seeing him stepping forward at her, Domino dodged by stepping back and moving her head out of the way again.

Not discouraged, Ash continued his advancement towards her while throwing punches.

However, Domino dodged every punch by only turning her body or moving her head out of the way as she continued to step back in retreat.

This continued to happen for a while, until, Domino felt her back hit something.

Letting out a gasped as soon as she felt her back hit the concrete of the wall, she cursed silently to herself for not keeping track of her surroundings.

Pressing his advantage, Ash gave Domino no time to reposition herself as he sent a right hook at her face.

Domino's smirked disappeared as she crouched down and dodged the right hook. Instantly, her eye's narrowed as she now saw a foot coming at her face.

Seeing her smirk disappear and eyes narrowing, Ash thought, 'Got you now.' However, right before his foot connected, Ash saw Domino's smirk return and she dodged the hit by jumping high into the air.

Pushing off the wall with her feet, after she jumped, Domino flipped and turned in the air. With a perfect landing, Domino touched back down on the ground and was now facing Ash away from the wall with her same smirk.

Ash, seeing that smirk again, growled and charged Domino once again.

In response, Domino's smirk grew and as she began to charge at Ash, she said "My turn."

Once in front of each other, Domino, like a cobra, launched quick and accurate strikes at Ash.

Coming at him like blurs, the strikes were too fast for even him to follow and Ash felt his head recoil back and his ribs start to sting as Domino's first few punches found their mark.

Knowing he couldn't dodge after feeling the first punches land, Ash crossed his hands in front of his face and chest in an desperate attempt to protect himself. However, his attempt was in vain as Domino's strikes always broke through his guard and hit their mark as Domino repeatedly punched him.

After taking a pretty heavy beaten from Domino's quick strikes, Domino finished her onslaught by connecting a powerful haymaker to Ash's face.

With a loud smack, Ash flew backwards with great speed. After flying through the air for some distance, Ash's back, eventually, hit the ground and he, then, slide to a stop.

'This doesn't look good,' Ash thought as he began his journey onto his hands and knees. Every movement was difficult and it was a struggle to even get on his stomach.

Eventually, against his body's protest, Ash made it to his hands and knees. With his head feeling like it could explode any second and his breathing coming in sharp, uneven breaths, Ash knew that he took one heck of a beating. 'I don't remembering her being this good last time I fought her.'

Some how reading his mind, Domino said in a sugar sweet voice, "You must be wondering how I got so good since the last time?"

Ash didn't respond to Domino's question as he continued to gather his bearings.

"Well I'll tell you since it looks like your dying to know," Domino continued in her sugar sweet voice. Becoming serious Domino said in an angry voice, "Ever since you three defeated me and took out my home (Team Rocket's headquarters), all I could think about was how I was going to get my revenge! So, I began planning and training myself everyday, waiting patiently for this day to come! Like I said earlier, it wasn't easy to get the resources I needed to not only get your attention, but to defeat you three, but seeing your pitiful form now. It was worth it."

"You don't have to do this," Ash said while trying to control his breathing and reason with her.

"It's too late for that," Domino replied. Hearing a crash close by, Domino smiled an evil smile and said, "You hear that? It doesn't sound like your friend Mewtwo is fairing any better."

Ash lifted his swollen eyes at Domino in surprise at that statement.

* * *

Mewtwo was now covered in many bruises and scrapes and his cloaked looked like rags with the many gashes in it. Additionally, his strength has largely left him and he knew, at this pace, he wouldn't last much longer. As he struggled to to pull himself up from a crater he created after being blasted by a hyper beam, Mewtwo mentally prepared for another round. '7 more, just 7 more Dragonites to go,' Mewtwo thought as he flew back into the air towards the remaining Dragonites.

As Mewtwo flew near, he swayed to the left to dodge a wing attack aimed at him. Then, seeing a hyper beam coming at him, Mewtwo used psychic to deflected the hyper beam to the left of him.

As soon as he was finished deflecting the hyper beam, Mewtwo dodged another wing attack aimed at him by flying up. Immediately, after dodging, Mewtwo took flight after the last Dragonite that tried to hit him and began charging up two shadow balls.

When they were ready, Mewtwo aimed and fired his shadow balls at the Dragonite he was tailing. Not done, Mewtwo kept his hands up and used psychic on the shadow balls to double their speed and damage inflicted. As soon as he finished his combine attack, Mewtwo let out a grunt as he got blind sided by a dark pulse from one of the Tyranitars on the ground. Unable to focus from the pain, Mewtwo began falling towards the ground.

As he was falling, Mewtwo heard his shadow balls connect. Wanting to see the result of his last attack, Mewtwo turned his head and saw that a Dragonite was falling from the sky with swirls in its eyes. '6 more, just 6 more Dragonites to go,' Mewtwo thought as he closed his eyes and plummeted towards the ground.

Unable to stop himself, Mewtwo, once again, crashed into the stands of the stadium.

* * *

Seeing Ash's face full of shock, Domino laughed evilly.

Recovering from his shock, Ash asked in a slightly fearful voice, "What did you do?"

"What was necessary," Domino replied as she slowly started to walk towards Ash. Enjoying herself, Domino elaborated as she walked. "I recovered the 20 strongest Pokémon that Team Rocket has ever obtained from a hidden spot that few knew of. Then, I tamed them so they would follow my every order without question and guess what I did next."

Now right in front of Ash, she continued, "I ordered them to kill Mewtwo."

"NO!" Ash yelled as he got to his feet and swung a fist at Domino's head.

Domino, like before, moved her head and dodged it. However, instead of following it up with another punch like before, Ash twisted the arm that Domino just dodged and nailed her head with his elbow.

Using his other hand, Ash took advantage of Domino's dazed state and grabbed the front of her shirt tightly. In an impressive display of strength, Ash, then, lifted her up into the air by her shirt with one hand.

Domino's eyes became the size of saucers as she felt her feet leave the ground. Looking down at Ash, she gasped as she took in the feral look in his eyes.

With no mercy, Ash proceeded to punch her face again and again with the hand that wasn't holding her up. 'I HAD EVERYTHING TAKEN FROM ME ONCE BEFORE,' Ash thought while he delivered his beating on Domino.

After some time, Ash stop his punching, but instead of putting her down gently, Ash dropped her. Before she hit the ground, Ash, then, brought his foot up and connected a hard kick to her chest that sent her flying.

Seeing Domino land on her back and slide to a stop some distance away from him, Ash thought, 'I WILL NEVER LET THAT HAPPEN AGAIN.'

Laying on the ground, Domino began rolling around and laughing hysterically.

"Ha Ha. . . HHHHHAAAAAAAA."

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU LAUGHING FOR?" Ash shouted after hearing Domino's insane laugh.

Before she could answer, a crashing noise from nearby interrupted their conversation. Turning towards the noise, Ash's eyes widened with worry at the sight that greeted him.

* * *

'3 more, just 3 more Dragonites to go,' Mewtwo thought as he forced his body up. By now, his vision was blurry and he felt like he could pass out any moment. As he stood up, his legs gave out on him and he stumbled forward like a drunk.

After stumbling for a bit, Mewtwo managed to catch and steady himself. Raising his hands to his face, Mewtwo gazed at his now blurry hands.

'I can't give up,' Mewtwo thought as he lowered his hands. Gazing up at the moon, Mewtwo continued, 'The stolen Pokémon are counting on me.'

Seeing Ash and Mew's smiling faces in the moon, Mewtwo finished with conviction, ' Ash and Mew are counting on me.'

Taking flight again, Mewtwo thought, 'I will not give up. Even if it kills me.'

* * *

"Tick tock, Ash."

Turning towards Domino at the sound of her voice, Ash observed that Domino was now on her feet and was staring mockingly at him.

Taking out a black tulip, Domino pressed a button on it and the black tulip changed into a staff. Striking a poise with the staff, Domino said, "If you don't hurry he will die."

That got Ash riled up and after a grunt, he charged at Domino.

Once in front of her, Ash coked back and fired a haymaker at Domino's face.

Domino could see the fist coming from a mile away. Using her staff, she first, deflect Ash's fist safety away from her. Then, she rotated her staff and used it to sweep Ash off his feet and onto the ground.

While flicking some hair out of her eyes, Domino took out and tossed a black tulip some distance away from them.

Trying to catch Domino off guard, Ash, from his position on the ground, swung his feet in a sweeping motion with the intent to sweep Domino off her feet.

However, Domino, again, saw the attack and jumped over Ash's sweep.

Not giving up, Ash exploded upwards and threw a fist in a uppercut motion at Domino's chin.

Domino responded by swinging her staff hard and fast at Ash's face.

Unfortunately, for Ash, Domino's attack was faster and struck his head before his attack could connect. The staff made an ugly slapping sound as it hit Ash's face and the blow caused him to fly some distance to the side and, then, back onto the ground. Holding his face while in a ball on the ground, Ash tried to ease the unbearable amount of pain he felt.

Seeing Ash hold his face in pain, Domino causally took out and tossed another black tulip.

'No. It can't end like this,' Ash thought as he released his hands from his face. 'I WON'T ALLOW IT TO END LIKE THIS,' Ash thought as he quickly got up and charged at Domino with the intent to tackle her.

Domino, though impressed with his persistence, shook her head and used her staff to pole fault herself into the air at Ash. With great coordination and while in the air, she wrapped her legs tightly around Ash's neck. Twisting her body and using her momentum, Domino, then, took Ash down hard to the ground.

Taking her time getting up, Domino took out a third black tulip.

Once on her feet, she proceeded to toss it like the last two.

With a grunt, Ash rolled over onto his stomach and slowly moved to get on his hands and knees.

Not giving Ash the chance to get up and attach her again, Domino struck Ash's back hard with her staff. With a loud smack, Ash fell face forward into the ground. Domino, then, took a fourth black tulip out and threw it.

With the stage now set, Domino jumped away and pushed a button on her sleeve. The button caused the four black tulips that were position in a square with Ash in the middle to come to life.

With a buzzing sound, the four black tulips fired a blue electric shock at Ash.

"AAAAAAAAAH!" Ash screamed in pain as he was blasted in the back for a good 7 seconds.

Seeing Ash in pain, Domino smirked and enjoyed the show.

When the shocking stopped, Ash's face fell forward into the ground and little bits of smoke rose from his now tender back. Thanks to his training with Mewtwo, he was still conscious, but in a daze.

Seeing Ash laying there with his face in the dirt, Domino concluded that he was no longer a threat to her. Wanting to check on the progress of Mewtwo's death, Domino turned just in time to spot two objects crash into the ground.

After the dust cleared from the collision, Domino saw that in one crater laid one conscious, but really worn out looking Mewtwo. In the other crater, she noticed a Dragonite with swirls in its eyes.

Looking around to survey how many Pokémon that Mewtwo took out, Domino's eyes widen in shock when she saw every single Dragonite she sent at Mewtwo on the ground with swirl in its eyes. 'He did better than I thought,' Domino thought as the Tyranitars began to form a circle around the down Mewtwo. Not seeing Mewtwo make a move to stand, Domingo thought, 'But not good enough.'

Walking towards Ash, an evil idea went through her head.

Setting her idea in motion, Domino sat down on Ash's tender back once she was in front of him.

Ash grunted in pain when he felt Domino sit on top of him, but made no move to throw her off him.

Leaning forward, Domino whispered into Ash's hear, "How does it feel to know that you fail?"

Feeling Domino's breath on his neck, Ash felt a shiver run down his spine.

Putting her staff under Ash's chin, Domino forced Ash head up to look at his failure.

Looking tiredly at the scene of Mewtwo not moving and getting surrounded by Tyranitars, Ash thought, 'Mewtwo. . . No.' Seeing his friend in danger snapped Ash out of his daze. Wanting to help his friend, Ash moved to get up, but with Domino on his back and not having very much strength at the moment, he didn't get very far.

"Before I kill you, I want you to watch your friend die," Domino's voice once again came from near his ear.

Seeing, the Tyranitars starting to charging up massive dark pulses, Ash closed his eyes and thought, 'Please. . . Mew I need your help. . . Mewtwo needs your help. . . please . . come.'

Leaning back away from Ash's ear, Domino said, "It is a shame that we couldn't witness Mew's death."

At hearing this, Ash's eyes shot opened in shock.

"That's right! I never told you what I had in store for little old Mew. How silly of me!" Domino said in her sugar sweet voice.

Leaning forward to whisper in Ash's ear again, Domino continued, "I ordered two other Team Rocket elite members with strong Pokémon to go after her and kill her before our battle."

Sitting back up, Domino continued, "I also made sure that their Pokémon had mean look, so don't expect her to escape!

Laughing insanely, Domino finished, "For all we know, she may already be dead."

Seeing that the Tyranitars had finish charging up their dark pulses, Domino became serious and said, "Now. . . onto the main event."

Ash, seeing he was running out of time to save his friend, tried once more to move his body and get up. However, his movements were once again in vain.

Domino, feeling Ash struggle below her, smiled and seeing the Tyranitars launched their attack at Mewtwo, she shouted, " **NOW YOU WILL KNOW WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO LOSE EVERYTHING!** "

What happened next went in slow motion for Ash.

As Ash saw the dark pulses come closer to Mewtwo, Ash thought, 'I am sorry Mew. . . Mewtwo. . .'

A single tear proceeded to fall down Ash's cheek.

'Sorry that we won't be able to spend any more time together. . . sorry that you both had to die prematurely. . . but most of all I am sorry that I failed both of you. . .'

After releasing a sob, Ash continued.

'You both putted your trust in me. . . and I couldn't protect either of you. . .'

Seeing the dark pulses about to hit their target and not wanting to watch his friend die, Ash closed his eyes tightly.

'I am sorry'

* **BBBBOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!** *

The explosion, instantly, caused the ground to tremble violently and caused the stadium to be completely filled with smoke.

With so much smoke, it became impossible for Domino to see even two feet in front of her.

Ash, meanwhile, still had his eyes shut tightly in sorrow.

Eventually, the smoke started to clear away and the scene that Domino was greeted to shocked her to the core.

"WHHAAAATTTT!"

After hearing Domino's shout, Ash finally worked up the courage to open his eyes and what he saw confused him. In the spot where he last saw Mewtwo, was a huge crater. Now, that didn't confuse Ash, but what did was the body of Mewtwo was missing!

Ash didn't have long to contemplate what he saw because, suddenly, Ash felt himself being teleported away from Domino.

Reappearing some distance away on his bottom, Ash turned to look at who teleported him away.

Seeing not only a bruised and scratched up Mew levitating right of him, but also seeing a very much alive Mewtwo sitting left of him, Ash's heart became full of joy.

Turning towards the only Pokémon that could have possibly teleported Mewtwo to safety, Ash said, "Mew. . .what. . . how. . . I mean. . .when-"

*slap*

Rubbing the spot where Mew slapped him, Ash said, "Thanks, Mew, I needed that."

Mew smiled in response and said, "Mew."

"Don't think this is over," a voice, suddenly, irrupted them.

Turning towards the voice, Ash and Mew saw Domino about 30 yards away with 6 Tyranitars behind her.

"Right," Ash said while slowly getting to his feet. "Mew, I want you to take Mewtwo and teleport him and yourself to the nearest Pokémon center and drop him off their. Then, I want you to go get the police and bring them back here," Ash ordered.

Getting into a sloppy stance and staring down his opponents, Ash continued, "I'll hold them off until you get back. If I fail, then I want you to-"

*pat*

Feeling a hand on his right shoulder, Ash looked to his right and saw Mew levitating next to him with her hand on his shoulder.

Looking at Domino and the Tyranitars with determination, Mew said, "Mew Me Mew Meeew."

Ash just looked at Mew with shock until. . .

*pat*

Feeling a different hand on his left shoulder, Ash looked left and saw Mewtwo standing shakily with his hand on his left shoulder.

" _Mew and I are not leaving you. We are with you until the end_ ," Mewtwo said while looking at Domino and the Tyranitars with a tired, but determined look.

'You guy. . .' Ash thought while wiping away stray tears.

Straightening up, Ash, also, looked at Domino and the Tyranitars with determination and said, "Ok, then. Let's show them what we can do when we are together."

After saying this, Ash took out, from his cloak, his necklace with the key stone on it and clenched the key stone tightly.

Meanwhile, Mewtwo threw what was left of his cloak off of him and brought a hand towards the mega stone on his chest.

'Hear me my friend. Pass to the realm beyond evolution and mega evolve!' Ash thought as the key stone in his hand glowed brightly and Mewtwo became surrounded by a bright light.

After a few seconds, the key stone in Ash's hand stopped glowing and the light that surrounded what once was Mewtwo faded away. In Mewtwo's place levitated Mega Mewtwo Y.

Domino's eyes widen in surprise when she saw Mega Mewtwo Y emerge from the blinding light, but thinking that she still had the advantage since all three were immensely tired, she recovered quickly from her shock. Charging at the group with the Tyranitars behind her, Domino shouted, "This changes nothing! You three are still going to die today!"

Ash smirked a confident smirked in response and charged with Mega Mewtwo Y and Mew flying behind him to meet Domino and the Tyranitars head on.

When Domino was in front of him, Ash threw a powerful fist at her face.

Seeing the fist coming at her, Domino smirked and readied her staff to deflect and counter.

However, as Domino went to make her move, Ash disappeared into thin air and a little something made itself known.

With Ash not blocking her view, Domino saw an aura sphere coming at her with great speed. Caught off guard, Domino couldn't dodge the aura sphere.

With a ripping sound, the aura sphere collided with her stomach and sent her and it flying at high speeds into the wall of the stadium. For awhile, the aura sphere held her up against the wall as it continued to press against her stomach but, eventually, it released its victim and dissipated. As she slide down the wall and before she fell into the realm of unconscious, Domino spotted Mega Mewtwo Y flying with aura spheres in his hands.

* * *

Reappearing behind a Tyranitar, Ash and Mew quickly went to work.

Trying to get the Tyranitar's attention, Ash jumped on its tail.

Feeling something foreign on its tail, the Tyranitar looked back. Seeing Ash with a cheesy grin hanging onto its tail, it became angry and proceeded to flick his tail back and forth with great speed and strength in hopes to get the pesky human off of him.

Unable to hold on, Ash flew off into Mew's waiting arms. Catching Ash, Mew, proceeded to fly herself and Ash away from that Tyranitar.

Seeing his prey fly away, the Tyranitar responded by charging up a dark pulse to blast the two out of the skies.

However, before it could finish charging up, the Tyranita got bombarded with aura spheres from Mega Mewtwo Y and collapsed onto the ground with swirl in his eyes from the supper effective attack.

Flying at a faster pace, Mega Mewtwo Y quickly caught up to Mew and Ash. Once caught up, the two Pokémon and human turned to look at each other. Nodding their heads in unspoken language, Mew flew Ash towards the ground and proceeded to set him down in the middle of two Tyranitars and fly off.

Seeing Ash get set down, both Tyranitars charged and went to attack him with a crunch attack.

Waiting until the last minute, Ash jumped and dodged both attacks.

Unable to stop themselves, the two Tyranitars proceeded to run face first into each other and collapse onto the ground.

Mega Mewtwo Y saw all of this happen and, aiming to finish off the Tyranitars, he flew downwards at an extremely fast pace and released aura sphere after aura sphere at the two dark and rock type Pokémon. The aura spheres came at the Tyranitars like a blur because of their fast speed and every one hit the Tyranitars' head with pin point accuracy.

In response to Mega Mewtwo Y's attack and as he flew by Ash and company, the Tyranitars fell down with swirls in its eyes.

Seeing Mega Mewtwo Y in action put a smile on Ash's face. However, that smirked disappeared when he felt the presence of something big behind him.

Swallowing nervously, Ash looked behind himself and saw the last three Tyranitars staring him down angrily with dark pulses in their mouths!

Mew, coming to Ash's rescue, flew in front of the Tyranitars before they could release their attack and used taunt on them. This caused the Tyranitars to shift their attention from Ash to her and caused them to launch dark pulse after dark pulse at her.

Mew, being herself, used baton pass to switch herself out with a nearby Tyranitar anytime a dark pulse was about to hit her.

After doing this a couple of times, the Tyranitars became angry with each other and proceeded to attack each other in frustration.

Standing off to the side, Ash and Mew sweatdropped at seeing the Tyranitars comically fight each other.

Seeing everything from the air, Mega Mewtwo Y thought he would end it. Preparing himself for a fly by, Mewtwo readied two aura spheres. Taking off like a jet, Mewtwo released hell on the three Tyranitars in the form of three well aimed aura sphere. The aura sphere hit its target and as Mega Mewtwo Y flew by, the last three Tyranitars collapsed onto the ground with swirl in their eyes.

Knowing that they had one more thing to take care of before the day was won, the three moved to walk/fly to where Domino laid unconscious.

* * *

As Domino regained conscious and lifted her head, she noticed Ash right in front of her, with Mew and Mega Mewtwo Y right and left of him respectively.

"Its over, Domino," Ash told her.

Offering a hand for her to take, Ash continued, "Come quietly and we won't have to hurt you anymore."

Slapping his hand away, Domino said, "Its not over until I say its over." Domino, then, smirked as she secretly pressed a button on her sleeve.

The button caused all of the black tulips she placed in the stadium to hum to life and fire a blue blast of energy towards the back of Ash, Mega Mewtwo Y, and Mew.

"Well, I tried," Ash said as Mew teleported all three of them away.

With the three of them standing right in front of Domino when she launched the attack and with them now gone, the blue blast of energy's new target became Domino herself.

Not having the strength to move, all Domino could do was scream as she was blasted from her own attack.

Reappearing some distance away, Ash could only shake his head as he saw Domino fall unconscious from her own attack.

Also, seeing that the battle was now over, Mega Mewtwo Y became surrounded by a bright light and transformed back into Mewtwo.

Turning towards one another, the two Pokémon and one human shared a smiled with each other in the light of the moon and stars for a job well done.

Suddenly, hearing the sound of concrete being move, the group stopped smiling and turned just in time to see a piece of concrete fall from the now destroyed entrance that Ash and Mewtwo first entered the stadium from.

"Hello, is anyone their," a voice said from the other side of the destroyed entrance.

Recognizing officer Jenny's voice, Ash responded, "Yeah, over here."

Walking towards the entrance to the stadium, the group went to help the police clear a path into the stadium and let them take care of things from here on out.

* * *

After a couple of hours, all of the Team Rocket members where in handcuffs and all of their Pokémon were returned to their poke balls. It was now morning and the morning sun tinted the sky in a mix of a beautiful orange and pink color. Outside the front entrance of the base, Ash stood taking care of Mew's injuries as police officers led handcuffed Team Rocket members into waiting police trucks. Not to far away from his two friends, Mewtwo sat on the ground with his eyes closed.

"Almost done, Mew," Ash told the pink Pokémon as he sprayed a super potion on her.

Mew flinched slightly backwards in pain as the spray made contact with her skin, but soon relaxed as she felt her wounds heal.

Once all her wounds were healed, Ash stopped spraying Mew and said with a warm smile, "Ok, all better. You did good."

Leaning forward, Ash whispered in Mew's ear, "Better than a certain other Pokémon I know."

After those words were said, both Ash and Mew broke out into a laughing fit at Mewtwo's expense.

Calming down after a couple seconds and getting somewhat serious, Ash said to Mew, "You know what I still don't get? How did you defeat the two Team Rocket elite members that Domino sent after you? From what she told me, it sounded like it would be more than you could handle."

"I can answer that," a familiar voice said.

Turning towards the newcomers voice, Ash said in confusion, "Jake?"

"The one and only," Jake responded with a slight smile.

Looking towards Mew and then back towards Jake in confusion, Ash asked, "What are you doing here?"

Jake's smile fell and while scratching the back of his head nervously, he said, "I actually have you to thank for being here." Afraid to keep going, Jake stopped talking and looked nervously up at Ash.

Seeing that Jake was acting nervous, Ash smiled a disarming smile at him and gestured with his hands to continue his story.

Seeing Ash's smile, Jake was instantly put at ease and gaining confidence, Jake continued, "After our last talk together, I knew I couldn't sit around and do nothing. So, after you three left, I went to the police station and told them exactly what happened. Then, I kind of gave them this to track your location." Digging through his bag, Jake pulled out the flashlight that Meowthtwo used to get Mewtwo's attention back by Bob's bakery.

Instantly, recognizing the flashlight, Ash said, "Ok, let me guess. You noticed Meowthtwo shine the flashlight in Mewtwo's eyes before your Pokémon where stolen and after our talk, you went over by the trash cans that Meowthtwo was hiding behind and retrieved it."

Jake at least had the decency to look guilty after what Ash said.

Seeing that Jake indirectly confirmed his suspicion, Ash shook his head and while berating himself for being stupid and leaving the flashlight behind, Ash thought, 'Speaking of Meowthtwo, I wonder if he is still here.'

After thinking this, some bushes by him started to shake. Having a good idea of who it was, Ash wasn't surprised when Meowthtwo emerged from the bushes.

'He must have decided to come out after he heard his name being used,' Ash reasoned as he watched Meowthtwo walked over to where he was and sit down

Turning towards Jake, Ash nodded at him in a way that told him to continue his story.

Continuing from where he left off, Jake said, "Anyways, the police and I followed the scent here and when we got here, we heard explosions coming from the inside the base. Worried, we rushed inside and came across a cafeteria and a battle. Seeing Mew losing against two scary looking Team Rocket member and their Pokémon, the police stepped in and helped Mew take down the two criminals. Then, while the police were handcuffing all the knocked out people that were in the cafeteria, Mew, suddenly, disappeared."

As Jake finished the story, Ash had an unreadable expression on his face. Walking up to Jake, Ash said in anger, "What you did was just plain stupid. Do you know what Team Rocket is capable of? You could have been killed."

Jake's head lowered in shame at Ash's criticizing words.

*pat*

Feeling a hand on his shoulder, Jake instantly looked up in surprise.

Seeing that it was Ash who put a hand on his shoulder and seeing Ash giving him the most genuine smile he has ever witness, Jake's mouth hung open in shock.

"You also saved not only Mew's life, but Mewtwo and my life as well. Instead of moping around, you found the strength in yourself to act. For that, I want to say thank you," Ash said sincerely.

Mew could only smile at seeing such a heart warming scene.

Suddenly, the sound of a cart being rolled out of the base filled the air.

Turning towards the front door, the group witness a cart being rolled out of the base with many poke balls on it.

Turning towards Jake and seeing that he still had his mouth open shock, Ash silently laughed to himself and said to him, "Go now. I am sure you want to see if your Cyndaquil and Hoothoot are alright."

With those words snapping Jake out of his shock state, Jake simply nodded his head at Ash and took off towards the cart.

Ash and Mew could only smile on as they saw Jake search through the cart for his friends.

After some time, Jake finally found the poke balls that contained his friends. Filled with joy, Jake immediately threw their poke balls into the air to release them.

With a white light, Jake's Cyndaquil and Hoothoot materialized. Looking around, both Pokémon tried to find the reason for being called out.

Jake, at seeing his best friends were ok, said with happiness and open arms," Cyndaquil, Hoothoot, over here."

Turning to their trainer and seeing his open arms, both Pokémon ran towards him. Once in front of him, both Pokémon, then, affectionally leapt into Jake's arms.

Jake, instantly, brought his hands out and caught his leaping Pokémon. However, the force behind their leap caused him to fall backwards on his bottom with his Pokémon in his arms.

"Ha ha quit it!" Jake said happily as his Pokémon started to affectionally lick his face.

Ash observed the whole scene and, initially, he was filled with happiness for Jake. However, that soon changed when the scene faded from in front him.

In Jake's and his Pokémon's place, Ash saw a younger version of himself laughing in happiness from Pikachu liking his face.

'Pikachu,' Ash thought sadly as the scene changed back to Jake and his Pokémon.

Now filled with sadness and not wanting to cause a scene, Ash turned his back away from everyone and, instead, faced the forest behind him. Taking deep breaths, Ash attempted to contain his raging emotions.

Mew, feeling Ash's emotion change through their connection, looked at Ash's back with worry.

Suddenly, the front door of the base opened and Domino came out in handcuffs followed by officer Jenny.

Looking around, Domino spotted Ash, Mew, Meowthtwo, and Mewtwo some distance away from her. Wanting to rattle the group, she shouted, "Don't think this is over Ash Ketchum! I'll get out of jail one of these days and when I do, I will hunt down everyone that is precious to you and kill them!"

"Yeah, yeah. Keep moving," officer Jenny said as she pushed Domino into a truck with the other Team Rocket members.

"You haven't seen the last of me!" Domino shouted as officer Jenny slammed the door to the truck she was in shut.

Hearing Domino's shout, Jake got up from the ground and excitedly ran up to Ash.

"Your Ash Ketchum? Wow, this is so cool! I remember watching you battle against Alain in the Kalos League as a kid! To think, that you rescue Pokémon now with Mewtwo and Mew! My friends will be so jealous when I tell them that I met you!" Jake said without taking a breath and with excitement.

Also, hearing Domino's parting words, a police officer walked up to Ash and said in confusion, "Ash Ketchum? You are suppose to be dead." Getting serious, the officer said to Ash, "Your going to have to come with me to answer a few questions."

While all this was happening, Ash kept his back facing everyone and continue to take deep breaths in an attempt to control his emotions.

However, after hearing the officer's last sentence, Ash stopped his breathing exercise and said in a monotone voice, "I am afraid I can't do that officer because as far as you and everyone here knows, I am still dead."

After saying this, Mewtwo, who was gathering up psychic energy this whole time, opened his now glowing white eyes.

As soon as they were opened, a white wave of energy was sent from Mewtwo to everyone in the vicinity besides, Ash, Mew, and Meowthtwo.

The wave hit everyone of its targets, including the Team Rocket members in the truck, and caused those hit to become brainwashed.

"Mewtwo, make sure everyone here forgets about us," Ash ordered in a monotone voice as he turned his head back towards Meowthtwo. Attempting to give Meowthtwo a smile, Ash said with some emotion, "Take care of yourself."

Seeing Ash's obviously fake smile, Meowthtwo only nodded his head in response.

Satisfied, Ash looked back towards the forest as he ordered in a monotone voice, "Mew, take us home."

In response, Mew flew by Ash and waited for Mewtwo to be done with his job. Once finished, Mewtwo stood up and walked over to Ash and Mew. Mew, then, used teleport and the three of them disappeared into thin air.

* * *

Reappearing back on the the abandon island that has been their home for the last 6 years, Ash said in a monotone voice with his back still facing Mew and Mewtwo, "If you would excuse me, I need to be alone right now."

After saying this, Ash began walking away.

Wanting to say something to snap his sulking friend out of it, Mewtwo went to stop him, but Mew stopped his advancement by placing a hand on his shoulder.

Seeing Ash leave and getting mad at being stopped, Mewtwo turned towards Mew and angrily said, " _Why do always do this? Every time I try to get him to see the errors of his way, you stop me. I mean this is ridiculous. He should be happy right now, not sad. We just took down a whole Team Rocket base, recovered a bunch of stolen, and captured Domino. So, why won't you let me talk some sense into him?_ "

Mew, being tired from transporting the group back to the island, levitated near the ground with her head lowered as she listened to Mewtwo talk.

However, after hearing the end of Mewtwo's rant, she lifted her head up to look Mewtwo in the eyes and said, "Me Me Mew Mew Me Me Mew."

Trying to make sense of what Mew told him, Mewtwo said, " _So, you think he has to learn to forgive himself before he can move on and anything we say will only make it worse. Even if I agree with you, how do you expect him to forgive himself when he hasn't been able to do so in 6 years?_ "

Mew in response said, "Mew Mew Me Me Mew Me Me."

Bringing a hand up to his face in a thinking pose, Mewtwo said, " _A women's touch, huh. You really think him seeing this Serena person can help him?_ "

With a serious expression, Mew nodded her head.

Seeing the normal playful Pokémon with such a serious expression, Mewtwo relented and said, " _Ok, I will put my trust in you._ "

Mew smiled in response.

Looking up into the sky, Mew knew that the situation had to be handled very delicately. From tailing Serena, Mew first handily saw the changes to her character that Ash always talks about. Seeing these changes, Mew knew that Serena had to care deeply for Ash to change so much after his "death." Also, being able to somewhat sense Ash's emotion, she knew that deep deep deep down, Ash cared more for Serena than for his other friends. However, she also knew that Pikachu's death left his heart filled with sadness. So, any push she gave to get Ash and Serena to at least talk to each other, could blow up in her face. Hopefully, though, with Mewtwo now helping her, her plan to unite them will turn out ok.

* * *

 **And that is a wrap for this arc. I wanted to write this arc to show what Ash has been doing for the past 6 years and to show the personalities of Ash, Mewtwo, and Mew before meeting up with Serena. I feel like too many stories rush the beginning and jump too quickly into the action. Hopefully, my humor and action scenes were enough to keep you guys entertain without having Serena. I promise, from here on out, that Serena will be a big part of the story. Also, with the end of the arc, I would like to say that I would really appreciate some feedback on how the story is coming along (things you like and/or things you didn't like). I don't really want to become one of those authors that beg for reviews after every chapter, but any feedback is appreciated. Additionally, I want to say thank you for anyone who has reviewed, favorite, and/or followed the story so far!**

 **Until next time!**

 **Next time: Arc 2 The Meeting**


	7. Arc 2 The Meeting

**I started a poll on my profile page that asks who is the better supporting character in this story, Mew or Mewtwo. So, come by and vote for your favorite Pokémon!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or anything associated with it.**

On the abandon island that has housed Ash for the last 6 years, Mewtwo and Ash are, currently, sitting next to each other with their eyes closed in meditation. Mewtwo is wearing a brand new cloak and sweat could still be seen on Ash's face from his and Mewtwo's training this morning. Right now, Ash is thankful for the cool cave blocking out the hot afternoon sun. Taking steady breaths, both Mewtwo and Ash try to clear their minds and deepen their meditation.

Suddenly, without warning, air whooshes past both Ash and Mewtwo's ears as someone teleported in front of them.

Confused, since the cave should block out the wind, Ash and Mewtwo opened their eyes. Seeing their friend Mew, both Ash and Mewtwo, instantly, stood up in alert.

Mew, seeing that she has found her friends, flew over to the TV in the cave and pressed the on button. Once on, Mew, then, started to press the next channel button on the TV.

Ash and Mewtwo, meanwhile, silently watched Mew with curiosity as she urgently flipped through the channels on the TV.

Finding the channel she was looking for, Mew stopped pressing the next channel button and flew backwards from the TV until she was next to her friends.

Gazing at the TV, the three of them focused in on what was displayed.

On the TV, was the face of a news lady and in the background their were a bunch of people with cameras in front of the entrance to a Pokémon center.

"Any moment from now, Serena will be walking out of the doors behind me and onwards to her next journey. Now the question is, what and where will her next journey be," the news lady said into the microphone in her hand as she looked into the camera.

Suddenly, the doors to the Pokémon center opened and Serena walked out in jeans, sunglasses, and a pink sweatshirt with the hood up.

Instantly, many cameras started to take pictures of her.

Getting flash by many cameras, Serena stoped walking and stood at the front of the Pokémon center with a shock expression.

"Here she is now!" the news lady excitedly says as she started to walk up to Serena with the camera man not far behind. Once in front of Serena, she said, "Serena, I speak for everyone in the world when I ask you what are your plans now that you have the titles of Kalos Queen and Top Coordinator?"

Recovering from her initial shock and knowing that her gig was up, Serena proceeded to pull down the hood on her head and took off her sunglasses. Looking at the microphone now in her face, Serena accepted her fate and, after a long sigh, she said, "I guess it couldn't hurt if I told you."

Straightening up and getting serious, Serena continued, "I plan on traveling to the Sinnoh region and entering the Pokémon League their."

After saying this, many flashes could be seen, once again, in response to her stunning announcement.

Serena, in response, squinted her eyes and turned away as she got bombarded with flashes.

Recovering from her initial shock, the news lady said, "Wow! What made you decide to go after the prestigious title of Pokémon Master?"

Serena, now recovered from the flashes, brought a clenched fist up to her heart and said with a soft expression and voice, "Sorry, but the reason is private."

Suddenly, a black car pulled up and parked behind Serena.

Looking at the car, Serena said into the microphone, "Sorry to cut this short, but I have to go." Walking up to the car behind her, Serena proceeded to open up the door to the back seat and get in. After slamming the door shut behind her, the car started to drive away.

As the camera was following the car that Serena was in down the road, Ash walked towards the TV and turned it off.

While looking at the now blacks screen that moments ago showed his friend continue to make the same mistake he made in the past, Ash whispered, "Serena. . ."

Turning towards Mew and, then, Mewtwo with a worried expression, Ash said, "This is the worst possible outcome." Reaching up and running a hand through his hair in anxiety, Ash continued, "Why couldn't she make the right decision and go home? Why did she have to go on her next journey right away?" Letting out a deep sigh, Ash finished, "Plus, now she is aiming to become a Pokémon Master of all things."

In response, Mew and Mewtwo turned to look at each other. After silently communicating with each other, they both nodded their heads and proceeded to initiate Mew's plan.

Looking back at a stress out Ash, Mewtwo said, " _It doesn't have to be this way, Ash._ " Looking directly into Ash's eyes with a serious expression, Mewtwo continued, " _You could always visit her and point out what she is doing wrong._ "

Laughing a humorless laugh, Ash responded, "What would I say to her, 'Hi Serena, sorry for not telling you, but I am alive and well. By the way, you should visit your friends and mother before going on your next journey.' Yeah, that will work real well." Reaching up and tracing the scar on his face, Ash continued, "Besides, I am needed here."

Instead of his usual yelling in response to Ash's reasoning to not seeing his friends, Mewtwo, instead, decided to follows the plan that Mew came up with before she went back to following Serena around in Kanto. " _You don't necessary need to be here to help return stolen Pokémon to their owner._ " Seeing that he now had Ash's attention, he continued, " _As long as Mew and I are with you, you could theoretically be anywhere in the world and still respond quickly to any report of Pokémon thieves._ " 'Besides, including Giovanni, I doubt that there are few if any remaining Pokémon thieves left,' Mewtwo thought as he waited for Ash's response to his proposer.

"Even if I could theoretically still respond quickly to reports of Pokémon thieves while I visit her, what am I going to say to her when she sees that I didn't die 6 years ago and, worse yet, what am I going to say if she asks about Pikachu?"

Responding quickly, Mewtwo said, " _She doesn't need to know that it is you she's talking to. You could hide your face with your hood and adopt an alias_."

Bringing a hand to his chin in a thinking pose, Ash asked after some time, "Do you really think that will work?"

" _Absolutely_ ," was Mewtwo's immediate response.

Seeing Ash contemplate Mewtwo's suggestion and knowing that Ash needed just a little more push, Mew said, "Me Me Me Mew Mew Me Me Mew."

Looking at Mew, Ash said, "You really think that I am the only one who can help her?"

In response, Mew nodded her head

Looking at both Mewtwo and Mew, Ash asked, "And you both don't care that you have to come with me when I visit Serena?"

Quickly, almost comically, both responded by shaking their head.

Weighing the pros and cons of visiting Serena, Ash closed his eyes in thought of how to proceed.

. . .

Opening his eyes, Ash came to a decision. "Alright, I'll visit and talk to her under an alias."

In response, Mewtwo and Mew had to suppress the urge to pump their fist in victory. Instead, they kept a neutral expression on their faces while Mewtwo said, " _Ok, so what is the plan? We are going to have to hurry, if we want to catch her before she gets on a boat that leads to the Sinnoh region._ "

"We have to catch her before she leaves Kanto," Ash said in response as he leapt into action.

Quickly packing supplies into two small bags, Ash continued, "In Kanto, we at least know that she is going to travel to a city where she can get on a boat that will take her to the Sinnoh region." Once the bags were full, Ash, then, used his belt to secure the bags to his hips and continued, "If she gets to Sinnoh, then we would have no idea where she will be."

After he was done, Ash walked over to Mewtwo and said, "Mew, can you teleport us to the only dock in the Kanto region that has ferries that can take people to the Sinnoh region?"

Mew nodded her head and flew close to Mewtwo and Ash and used teleport.

In a blink of an eye, all three of them vanished from the cave.

* * *

Reappearing in an alley close to the dock that Ash described, the group of three, immediately, took in the salt filled air as they looked around them to see if anyone saw them teleport in. Seeing that they were alone in the alley, the three of them proceeded to put on their disguises.

Ash and Mewtwo pulled up their hoods while Mew transformed into a Rattata. Once everyone was ready, the group of three exited the alley they were in.

Looking around, the group got a good look at the massive dock. In the dock, many boats, both big and small, were tied up to metal poles and the boats rocked back and forth as they were hit by waves. Also, a splashing sound could be heard as the waves crashed against the rocky shore.

While taking this all in, the three of them noticed a giant boat leaving the docks and heading towards open water. Thinking the worse, all three of them, quickly, ran towards the dock.

As they got closer to the dock, the three of them saw a small ticket booth come into view. Bypassing the line in front of the booth, the group quickly ran to the front of the line.

While pointing at the boat leaving the dock and while breathing heavily from running, Ash asked the guy in the booth, "Where. . . was. . . that. . . boat. . . heading?"

The guy in the booth looked at the out of breath Ash, Mewtwo, and "Rattata"; and said hesitantly, "Umm, that boat is heading to the Sinnoh region."

Catching his breath and panicking, Ash grabbed the front of the guy's shirt and said while pulling the guy close to his mostly hidden face, "Do you know if a Serena boarded that boat."

Suddenly, before the frighten ticket both guy could respond, a voice behind the group said, "Serena, do you mean the super famous Serena that just became a Top Coordinator."

Letting go of the wide eyed ticket booth guy, Ash turned towards where he heard that voice and said quickly, "Yeah, that is exactly who I am looking for."

A boy in line to the ticket booth with the same voice as earlier, answered him, "Well if you want to see her like the rest of us, get in line."

Now really looking at the line he earlier bypassed, Ash's eyes widen in shock when he noticed that the line was strangely super long. From just the people he could see, Ash could easily count 100 people in line! Recovering from his shock, Ash asked with slight confusion, "So, do you know if Serena was on that boat?"

Smacking his face with irritation the same boy as earlier said in response, "Have you been living in a cave for the last 4 years? Everyone knows that Serena uses her private plane to travel between regions."

Not knowing how to respond, Ash just awkwardly stood their while looking at the suddenly interesting ground.

Meanwhile, Mew was failing miserably at suppressing a laugh from how accurate the boy unintentionally was with the cave comment.

Suddenly, after hearing Ash and the boy talk about Serena, a young girl from the line said with stars in her eyes, "I hope that I get the chance to meet Serena. She's my hero! I want to be just like her when I am older."

"Well when I meet her, I am going to ask her to marry me," a different guy said with hearts in his eyes as he joined in on the conversation

"I can't argue with that. With a body like that, who wouldn't," a creepy guy said while adjusting his glasses.

That comment snapped Ash out of his embarrassment. Walking up to the creepy guy with glasses, Ash yelled, "Hey, don't talk about Serena like that! She is one of the kindest and supporting person I know!"

"Wait, wait, hold up. You know Serena?" the creepy guy with glasses asked.

Being put on the spot, Ash scratched the back of his hood covered head nervously and said, "Well, not the current her, but a long time ago we were best of friends."

For a moment nobody said anything. Then, the people in line burst into laughter.

"To think that I actually thought for a second that I met one of her friends," the creepy guy with glasses said while laughing.

"Just because you talked to her a long long time ago, doesn't mean your best friends," a different guy in line said while putting emphasis on the long part and laughing.

"Yeah, I mean why would Serena want to be friends with a loser that dresses up like some medieval wizard," a girl said while laughing.

Getting mad, Ash went to say something, but before he could utter one word, the guy from the ticket booth said, "That's him over their."

Turning towards the ticket booth, Ash saw the guy from the ticket booth pointing at him while talking with two police officers.

Walking up to Ash, one of two police officers said, "Excuse me sir, but I am going to have to ask you to leave."

Growling, Ash turned to walk away from the docks and said while barely keeping his anger under control, "Fine, I was leaving anyways."

Walking away with Mewtwo and Mew behind him, Ash heard the creepy guy with glasses say, "Finally, now with that clown gone, we can finally board a boat to the Sinnoh region and meet Serena." A chorus of cheers from the people in line followed soon after those words left the creepy guys's mouth.

Taking deep breaths, Ash tried to calm himself down as he, Mewtwo, and Mew walked into the alley that Mew originally teleported them in.

Regaining control of his emotions, Ash said while turning towards Mew and Mewtwo, "What now?"

Quickly coming up with a plan, Mewtwo said, " _I could contact all of the clone Pokémon in the Sinnoh region and ask them to keep an eye out for Serena. Meanwhile, we could go look around Jubilife city and see if her plane landed their._ "

Unable to come up with a better plan, Ash said, "Sounds good to me."

Reaching up, Ash took out his necklace with the key stone on it and clutched the key stone tightly in his hand.

Seeing Ash take out his necklace, Mewtwo threw his cloak off and put a hand on the mega stone strapped to his chest.

'Hear me my friend. Pass to the realm beyond evolution and mega evolve!' Ash thought while the stone in his hand and Mewtwo glowed in a bright white light.

As the white light died down, Mega Mewtwo Y levitated in the place Mewtwo occupied just moments before. Closing his eyes, Mega Mewtwo Y put his plan into action.

Using his psychic powers, Mega Mewtwo Y sought out his fellow clone Pokémon in the Sinnoh region. Then, once finding one of them, Mega Mewtwo Y established a link between them and asked him/her to keep a look out for a girl named Serena. Finally, after giving details of what Serena looked like, Mega Mewtwo Y would end their link and would repeat the process of finding a different clone Pokémon in the Sinnoh region. This same routine happened until Mega Mewtwo Y had connected with every clone Pokémon in the Sinnoh region.

After a couple minutes, Mega Mewtwo Y opened his eyes and the same white light from earlier surrounded him. When the white light faded away, Mewtwo had, once again, taken the place of Mega Mewtwo Y. Putting his cloak back on, Mewtwo said, " _They know and will contact me me if they hear anything about Serena._ "

"Thank you," Ash said sincere. Looking at Mew and walking close to Mewtwo, Ash asked, "Mew, could you teleport us to Jubilife city?"

Transforming back into her original form, Mew nodded her head and flew towards Ash and Mewtwo and used teleport.

In a blink of an eye, all three of them vanished from the alley.


	8. Arc 2:2 The Meeting

**Sorry for the late update, but I got frustrated with my writing style and life got in the way. For this chapter, I tweaked my writing style. So, hopefully this chapter flows better than previous chapters.**

 **Mew vs Mewtwo poll results so far:**

 **Mewtwo-1**

 **Mew-3**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or anything associated with it.**

Ash, Mewtwo, and Mew reappeared in an alley located in Jubilife city. Ash and a Mewtwo both still had their hoods up and Mew was her original self. Alertly looking around at their surroundings, Ash and Mewtwo relaxed once they saw that no one but their group was in the alley. Turning towards Mew, both saw that she was levitating close to the ground and breathing very heavily from teleporting them such a long distance.

Ash's eyes soften while looking at the tired pink Pokémon. "Mew, rest here while Mewtwo and I look around for any clues that could lead us to Serena."

Mew, in response, nodded her head in thanks. Transforming into a Bidoof, Mew ran towards some trash cans in the alley and hide herself behind them.

Observing the scene, Mewtwo smiled at seeing Ash's caring nature.

Getting serious and turning towards Mewtwo, Ash said, "We can cover more ground if we split up. Mewtwo, go up onto the roofs and see if you can spot her from up their. I'll go ask around and see what I can find out. Let's meet back here in a couple of hours."

Agreeing, Mewtwo, without saying a word, used psychic and flew up onto the nearest roof.

'No matter how much time has passed, I still can't get use to how he operates,' Ash thought while sweetdropping at Mewtwo's silent nature.

Straightening up and shaking his head, Ash thought, 'Right, I have a job to do.' Running out of the alley, Ash went to ask around about Serena.

Meanwhile, Mewtwo flew from rooftop to rooftop in hopes of spotting the elusive coordinator/performer.

* * *

After about a couple of hours, Ash ran down a street that led to the alley that Mew first teleported their group in.

Turning into the alley, Ash noticed that Mewtwo was already their waiting for him and a well rested "Bidoof" was beside him. Running up to his friends, Ash said, "Mewtwo, did you spot her?"

" _No. Did you find out anything?_ "

Ash sighed and said, "Nothing important, just that she is super famous and has her own fan club." Pulling down his hood and running a hand through his hair, Ash continued, "Oh and did you know that she is almost impossible to talk too."

" _Impossible to talk too?_ " Mewtwo questioned as he too pulled down his hood.

"Yeah, apparently she either politely dismisses or straight out ignores people if they try to strike up a causal conversation with her."

Turning towards Mew, Ash said in an accusing tone, "Did you know this when you were following her?"

With an extremely innocent look on her face, "Bidoof" shook her head.

'Some how I don't believe you,' Ash thought as he looked at Mew's "innocent" face.

Lowering his head in defeat, Ash said, "This was a mistake. We should just go home. Even if we could find her, how could I get her to listen me."

*pat*

Feeling a comforting hand on his shoulder, Ash looked up and saw Mew in her original form and smiling at him.

"Me Me Mew Mew Mew Me."

" _She's right_ ," Mewtwo said. " _Did you give up when things got tough against Domino?_ "

"Well no-"

" _No!_ " Mewtwo said with conviction. " _Instead, when the going got tough and it looked like none of us would make it, you unselfishly ordered Mew and I to leave you._ "

Lowering his head Mewtwo whispered, "You were willing to risk everything, just to make sure we were safe."

Snapping his head back up, Mewtwo continued, " _Now, Serena needs your help and you want to leave because it is going to be hard! YOU NEED TO SNAP OUT OF IT BECAUSE IF YOU CAN'T HELP HER, THEN NO ONE WILL BE ABLE TOO!_ "

'Since when did Mewtwo become so passionate,' Ash thought while looking into Mewtwo's fiery gaze.

Closing his eyes with a small smile, Ash thought, 'Thank you Mew, Mewtwo. I needed that.'

Opening his eyes with a determined look, Ash said while pumping a fist into the air, "Your right. I won't give up until I convince Serena to go home!"

Both Mewtwo and Mew smiled at seeing Ash's restored confidence.

Suddenly, Mewtwo felt one of his fellow clone Pokémon trying to contact him. 'Please be about Serena,' Mewtwo thought. " _Ash, one of the clone Pokémon is trying to contact me._ "

Nodding his head, Ash took out the necklace around his neck while Mewtwo threw off his cloak and rested one of his hands on the mega stone on his chest.

While clutching the key stone in his hand, Ash thought, 'Hear me my friend. Pass to the realm beyond evolution and mega evolve!'

Suddenly, white light surrounded Mewtwo and, when the white light faded, Mega Mewtwo Y took Mewtwo's place.

Closing his eyes, Mega Mewtwo Y went to talk with the clone Pokémon that tried to contact him.

After a couple of minutes, Mega Mewtwo Y opened his eyes in shock. After changing back into Mewtwo, he said quickly, " _One of the clone Pokémon spotted Serena visiting the Pokémon center in Jubilife city!_ " While throwing his cloak back on and putting his hood back up, Mewtwo continued, " _If we hurry, we can catch her before she leaves._ "

As Mew transformed back into a Bidoof and as Ash pulled his hood back up, Ash said, "Well what are we waiting for. Let's go!"

Running out of the alley the group of three ran towards the Pokémon center.

Turning towards Mewtwo as they ran, Ash asked, "By the way, which clone spotted Serena?"

With that question, Mewtwo's shoulders slightly tensed and he said, " _Umm, that isn't important right now. Let's just focus on finding Serena_."

Seeing Mewtwo's shoulders tense, Ash thought, 'I wonder what he is hiding.' Sensing someone in front of him, Ash turned his head back forward and jumped to the right to dodge the person in his way. 'Oh well, now isn't the time to dwell on it.'

As the group of three ran to the Pokémon center, Ash thought, 'Stay right were you are Serena. I am coming.'

* * *

Coming up to the Pokémon center, the group of three noticed that their was a huge crowd of people with police officers in the center just outside the Pokémon center. The police officers prevented any people from getting into the Pokémon center and kept a path clear to a black car that was at least 30 yards away from the entrance. To help with crowd control, a barrier was placed on both sides of the path that led to the car.

Making their way up to the back of the crowd, Ash thought, 'How could so many people find out about Serena so quickly?'

Pushing their way through the crowd, the group made their way to the front.

"Please stay back. Ms. Serena doesn't want anyone bother her as she registers for the Pokémon League," Officer Jenny said.

"Serena, I love you!" a guy said with hearts in his eyes as he jumped over the barrier and ran towards the Pokémon center.

The many police officers saw the guy coming and the closest one tackled the guy to the ground before he could come even remotely close to the entrance. Forcing the guy's arms behind his back and placing handcuffs on him, the police officer quickly immobilize the guy.

As the police officer pushed the guy up and led him in handcuffs through the crowd and out of sight, Officer Jenny said, "Let this be an example of what will happen if you try to come any closer."

Signaling to Mew to jump onto Mewtwo's shoulder, Ash thought, 'I could probably take out all the police officers and force my way in, but I don't think that would leave a very good first impression on Serena.'

Seeing "Bidoof" jumped onto Mewtwo's shoulder, Ash brought his hand up to his mouth in a cup shape. Leaning forward, Ash whispered into Mewtwo's and Mew's ear. "We need to get her attention when she comes out of the Pokémon center. Any ideas?"

In response "Bidoof" grinned mischievously and gave a mock salute as Ash leaned away. Jumping off from Mewtwo's shoulder, she disappeared into the crowd.

Seeing her grin, both Ash and Mewtwo felt a shiver run up their spine.

Suddenly, Ash and Mewtwo heard the door to the Pokémon center opened up and the crowd go wild.

Looking towards the entrance, Ash was shocked as he saw Serena in person for the first time in about 6 years.

Serena was wearing an almost identical outfit as the one she wore for her first master class Pokémon Showcase in Kalos all those years ago. The only big difference in her attire was that instead of a red ribbon on her chest, their was a very familiar worn out blue ribbon. Also, Serena was now a mature women instead of a young teenager. So, she filled out parts of the outfit that she didn't fill out before. All in all she was stunning!

"Please, stay back," Officer Jenny said in a stern voice as she saw a group of fans about ready to jump the barricade.

Heeding her warning, especially since they saw what happened to the guy who tried to enter the Pokémon center before, the fans wisely decided to listen to her.

Meanwhile, Ash didn't observed any of this happening. His eyes remained on Serena in some sort of trance as Serena smiled a big smile and waved to the crowd.

Suddenly, a guy next to Ash whistled loudly and said, "Wow, what I would do to get some of that."

That comment snapped Ash out of his trance, but before he could close his wide open mouth, Serena turned towards him and the guy that whistled and her smile became more strained.

'Great, now she thinks I am some sort of creep,' Ash thought as he lowered his head in sadness.

Seeing Serena moving towards her car, Mewtwo thought, 'Mew, if your going to do something, now will be the time.'

Suddenly, Mewtwo saw something in the corner of his eye. Turning his head, Mewtwo saw a Staraptor flying fast towards Serena. 'Why would a Staraptor attack Serena?'

As the Staraptor open up its talons a light bulb went on in his head as he realized that the Staraptor was Mew. 'Good thinking Mew. If you can get the ribbon on Serena's head and give it to Ash. Serena will have no choice, but to interact with Ash to get her ribbon back.'

Tucking in her wings, Mew came flying down like a bullet. However, before she could get close to Serena, Officer Jenny pushed Serena behind her and prepared to take on the "Staraptor."

Caught off guard, "Staraptor" opened up her wings and pulled up. Flying harmlessly over the crowd, Mew lowered her head in defeat.

"Sorry about that Ms. Serena," Officer Jenny said.

Used to crazy stuff happening to her, Serena recovered quickly. "Its ok," she said as she continued walking towards her car.

Observing everything, Mewtwo turned to Ash in alarm and said only to him, " _Snap out of it! Mew's plan has failed and Serena is almost to her car!_ "

Snapping out of his moping, Ash raised his head up in shock and saw that indeed Serena was very close or her ride out of here. Quickly leaping into action, Ash moved to make his way through the crowd and towards Serena and her car. However, the crowd was now closely pack together and he was pushed back whenever he tried to make his way through it.

Having no other choice, Ash brought his hand up to his mouth and shouted, "Serena, I need to talk you! It is important!"

Simultaneously, someone shouted, "Serena we love you!"

Additionally, someone else yelled, "Serena will you marry me!"

Unfortunately for Ash, with many people screaming, his words sounded like any other fan and Serena did nothing to acknowledge him and continued walking to her now very close car.

" _Ash, we may never have such an opportunity ever again, you must stop her from leaving,_ " Mewtwo advised his friend.

Agreeing with him, Ash quickly tried to come up with a plan to get Serena to talk to him. 'I can't get to her and screaming for her to stop will only make me look like any other fan here.'

While watching Serena walk further and further away from him, Ash thought back to what he found out about Serena earlier, 'I cannot strike up a causal conversation with her. So, I have to somehow truly connect with her in order for her to listen to me…'

As Serena reached for the door to her car, time slowed down for Ash.

'There is only one thing that I know where two hearts can connect…'

In the clouds above Serena, Ash, suddenly, saw the clouds move to form the smiling face of Pikachu. Petrified, Ash felt like he was being torn apart inside as he gazed at both Serena and Pikachu.

Unfortunately, time was not Ash's friend and he had to quickly make a choice that would change his life forever.

Releasing a few tears, Ash made his decision as Pikachu's face disappeared. 'I am sorry Pikachu, but Serena needs my help.'

Bring his hands up to his mouth, Ash shouted at the top of his lungs as Serena touched the door handle to her car, " **Serena, I challenge you to a Pokémon battle.** "


	9. Arc 2:3 The Meeting

**Sorry for the long delay. I know it doesn't make up for it, but this chapter is long. So, hopefully you guys don't hate me too much.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or anything associated with it.**

Releasing a few tears, Ash made his decision as Pikachu's face disappeared. 'I am sorry Pikachu, but Serena needs my help.'

Bringing his hands up to his mouth, Ash shouted at the top of his lungs as Serena touched the door handle to her car, " **Serena, I challenge you to a Pokémon battle.** "

That declaration certainly got everyone's attention and all was quiet as they waited for Serena's reaction.

With a sigh, Serena let her hand fall down to her side and turned around to face Ash. "I am sorry, but I don't do unofficial battles," she said with a polite smile. Thinking the issue was now settled and wanting to get out of here, Serena, once again, turned back around and moved to leave.

"Ash wouldn't back down from a battle!" Ash shouted as Serena opened the car door.

Mewtwo, finally recovered from hearing the first bomb Ash released, gasped at his second one.

Paralyzed. . . that was the only word to describe Serena's reaction. Like a statue, Serena, with her hand still on the door, stood frozen.

After about a minute, Ash raised an eyebrow at his friend's strange behavior.

Over the years, Serena became very good at taking things in stride. However, at the mere mention of his name, she could feel her composure falling fast.

Suddenly, Serena slammed the door shut and turned around with the scariest glared Ash has ever seen on her.

"How do you know Ash?"

After taking a couple of seconds to collect himself, Ash quickly formulated a plan that would, hopefully, convince Serena to go home. "I met him years ago when he first started out on his journey, but you wouldn't know that now would you?"

Not liking his tone, Serena's eyes narrowed and she ignored his last comment. "What is your name?"

"The name is Satoshi." While looking at his finger nails, Ash said, "Always a pleasure to meet one of Ash's forgotten friends."

"Forgotten friend?"

"Yes, after traveling with him, you become forgotten." With a humorless laugh, Ash continued, "After parting ways, he says he will stay in contact and come visit you. However, the truth is, he is to much of a jack ass to even send an email to check up on you."

Getting angry at the appeared disrespect this guy was giving to her hero, Serena calmly stated, "If you know what's good for you, you will do best not to disrespect Ash in front of me."

Brushing off her last statement, Ash brought a hand up to his chin in a mock thinking pose and said, "I guess you wouldn't know because he died before he could neglect you."

That did it. With her grip on her emotions now completely shattered, Serena yelled, " **I will not stand by and watch some hooded creep talk down on the greatest human being I have ever had the pleasure of meeting! If it is a battle you want, then a battle you shall get!** "

Storming past the crowd, who wisely got out of the angry performer's way, Serena headed towards the Pokémon battlefield that was behind the Pokémon center.

Soon after Serena left, the stunned crowd finally recovered.

"Man I am so glad that I decided to get out of the house today."

"Me too! Now we get to see Serena wipe the floor with the hooded creep."

Where things said by the crowd as they left Mewtwo and Ash behind and followed after their hero.

" _Well I got to say that I didn't expect_ this," Mewtwo said while looking around still in disbelief about what transpired. Curious, Mewtwo said, " _What made you decide to battle her? Better yet, what compelled you to piss her off? You do know that your trying to help her, not make her mad._ "

With a thoughtful expression, Ash said, "Well. . . I made myself out to be the bad guy because she has to understand that what I did in the past and what she is doing now is only hurting those that care about her." Ash looked up at the sky as a gust of wind blew his hood around. "I know how hard it can be to see the error in oneself. However, people seem to easily find other people's flaws. . . I was hoping by bringing Ash into this that I could show her why what she is doing is wrong through him." He smiled and looked back down at Mewtwo. "Plus, she hasn't technically met Satoshi yet. So, I am not suppose to know anything about her."

" _Alright, but that still doesn't explained why you want to battle her," Mewtwo confusedly said. "There are other less dramatic ways to help her._ "

"No, a battle is the only way where two strangers hearts can connect," Ash wisely said while nodding. "This is the only way if I want to keep my identity hidden."

Finally, Mewtwo was able to wrap his head around Ash's plan and everything clicked into place. " _You pissed her off because you saw how she reacted when you mentioned Ash's name, didn't you?_ "

"Yep, I knew that I had to really work her up to get what I wanted."

" _I got to say that your plan is well thought out,_ " Mewtwo said, impressed.

"Thank you."

" _But you overlooked one important fact._ "

"Why is their always a but," Ash mumbled.

" _What was that?_ "

"Nothing!" Ash responded a little too quickly for Mewtwo's liking. "You were saying?"

" _Right,_ " Mewtwo said as he focused on the task at hand. " _You have to do the one thing that you vowed never to do again._ " Mewtwo paused for dramatic effect. " _You have to battle her._ " He put a hand on Ash's shoulder. " _Can you handle that?_ "

"I don't know. . ." Ash truthfully respoded while looking down and running a hand over his scar. "But it is like you said earlier." He looked up in determination. "If I don't help her, then no one will!"

Hearing his conviction, Mewtwo smiled. " _Ok the, just remember you are not alone and if you need my help all you have to do is asked._ "

"Actually there is one thing you can do," Ash said while getting nervous all of a sudden. "Could you prepare for the worse? Just in case everything falls apart."

Mewtwo brought his hand back to his side and said, " _Of course._ "

"Thank you my friend," Ash said in gratitude. "I don't know what I would do without you."

" _You don't have to thank me because I know that you won't need me help._ " Turning away from Ash and walking towards the battlefield, Mewtwo said, " _Now come on, you have an angry performer waiting for you._ "

'I hope your right.' Ash gulped. 'Maybe it wasn't the best idea to get her mad. . .' He shook his head. 'I can't question myself now. I have to do this. For Serena. . ."

With poise, Ash confidently made his way towards the battlefield while silently pleading for everything to turn out alright.

However, things rarely go according to plan.

* * *

Arriving at the battlefield, Ash and Mewtwo noticed that the police officers were positioned to keep the crowd some distance away from the battlefield and Serena was already in her battle box. By the look of her face, she was raring to go.

"Here comes the hooded creep," someone said as they got closer.

In response, the crowd turned towards Ash and Mewtwo and parted like the Red Sea to allow them to pass.

"BBBBBOOOOOOOOO!"

Screamed the crowd as they threw their drinks and food at them as Mewtwo and Ash walked through them.

Meanwhile, Serena didn't say anything and instead choose to glare at her competition as they made their way behind the battle box across from her.

"Well here goes nothing," Ash said to Mewtwo as he stepped up into the battle box.

"I'll act as the judge for this match," said a referee with a flag in each hand as he approached the middle of the battlefield.

"This will be a one-and-one battle between Top Coordinator Serena and Satoshi." Pointing one of his flag towards Serena, the ref said, "Serena, please send out your Pokémon."

"Delphox, lets teach this guy some manners!" Serena shouted as she threw her starters Pokeball.

With a loud zing, Delphox materialized and gave out a loud battle cry. Pointing her stick upwards, she shot a huge blast of fire into the sky.

The crowd stared in awe at the powerful looking Pokémon.

"Delphox, lets show him what happens to those who disrespects Ash!" Serena shouted

In response, Delphox's eyes narrowed and her anger grew to match that of her trainers.

'I am glad that it is not me battling her,' the ref thought. Pointing his other flag towards Ash, he said, "Satoshi, please send out your Pokémon.

Ash panicked and turned towards Mewtwo with a "oh crap" look.

Mewtwo smacked his forehead with one of his hands. 'How could I missed this one important detail.'

Sweating, Ash thought, 'I can't battle Serena with Mewtwo. That would draw unnecessarily questions. Plus, I need him on standby just in case this whole thing blows up in my face.'

"Satoshi, please send out your Pokémon," the ref repeated.

Ash, very slowly, turned around to stall. "Uhm, could you give me a second."

"Can you hurry up and send out your Pokémon already!" an impatient Serena shouted.

Not wanting to go against the Kalos Queen, especially when she's angry, the ref said, "Satoshi, please send out your Pokémon or you will forfeit the match."

'Well who knew that this plan will fail so soon,' Ash thought. Drawing in a big breath, he readied himself to announce his forfeit. "I-"

"Pika!"

Shocked, everyone turned towards where that noise came from and saw a Pikachu and a "Bidoof" running towards Ash and Mewtwo.

'Not good!' Mewtwo thought. 'You just had to go get Pikachutwo, Mew.'

Ash could only stare at the clone of his lost friend with wide eyes as Pikachutwo ran up to him. Many flashbacks of his time with Pikachu went through his head and those memories caused him tremendous pain as it reminded him of their long journey together and the bond that he and Pikachu shared.

"Is Pikachu your chosen Pokémon?" the ref finally asked when it became apparent that Ash wasn't moving anytime soon.

From behind Ash, Mew and Mewtwo looked at their friend with worry and curiosity as they both waited to see what he will do.

Hearing the ref's voice, momentarily snapped him out of it. Looking up towards Serena, Ash once again was lost in a trance as he lived through many memories of his time with her. This filled Ash with determination as he recalled all of the times Serena was there for him.

Finally, after what felt like hours when in reality was only a couple seconds, Ash turned back towards Pikachutwo and spoke. "Will you battle with me Pikachu?"

Pikachutwo nodded his head with a serious look in his eyes.

"Alright, then. . . Pikachu I choose you!"

Pikachutwo jumped onto the battlefield. With his cheeks sparkling and with a determined look on his face, Pikachutwo readied himself for the upcoming battle.

Once again, flabbergasted at the turn of events, Mewtwo could only shake his head as he assumed a meditative stance and closed his eyes.

"This will be a match between Delphox and Pikachu. Are both sides ready?" the ref asked.

Serena brought a hand up to the blue ribbon on her chest and clutched it tightly as she closed her eyes. 'For Ash.'

Suddenly, Serena opened her eyes with a sharp glare as she returned her hand back to her side. "I am ready!"

Ash, meanwhile, was living one of his flashback from earlier again. Instead of the battlefield behind the Pokémon center, Ash saw the Kanto league battlefield. Furthermore, instead of battling Serena and her Delphox, Ash was battling Ritchie and his Butterfree with Pikachu.

Hearing Serena shout, brought him back to reality. Looking at his opponent across from him, Ash lived through a memory he had just moments before. However, instead of one of his battles with Pikachu, he observed a girl with long honey blond hair coming up to a frustrated Ash after he got beaten by Viola at his first gym battle in the Kalos region. With a smile, this girl encouraged him to never give up until its over. . .

"I am ready!" Ash shouted as he returned to reality.

"Alright, begin!" the ref said as he raised both flags up.

For a moment, both Pokémon stood still sizing each other up. Pikachutwo's cheeks were still sparkling and Delphox was still glaring hard.

"Pikachu, use quick attack!" Ash finally commanded.

Pikachutwo took off like a bullet while leaving behind a white streak and charged at the fox Pokémon.

"Stop it with psychic," Serena calmly ordered.

"Use thunderbolt before it can hit you!" Ash desperately retaliated.

Speed was everything at this moment. Both Pokémon knew that whom every could release their attack first will ultimately strike the first blow. Fortunately for Pikachutwo, his quick attack was still in effect and increased his speed. Thus, making it harder than normal for Delphox to use psychic on him. So, thunderbolt ultimately fired first and caused a mini explosion once it impacted Delphox.

"Serena, you have to understand that no one is perfect, Ash included," Ash tried to reason. "He made mistakes that really hurt those he called friends and family."

"Shut up! Ash was perfect!" Serena shouted back. "Delphox, use flamethrower!"

From the smoke, a huge blast of fire came quick and fast at the mouse Pokémon.

"Pikachu, dodge it!"

Pikachutwo's mind was screaming to move, but his body could not react quick enough. Getting blasted by the strong move, Pikachutwo slide back on the ground as he took a considerable amount of damage.

This made Ash have another flashback of a battle with Pikachu. However, instead of the Kanto league, he was back at the Silver Conferences in Jhoto battling Harrison and his Kecleon with Pikachu.

"Is that all you got?" Serena said, snapping Ash back to the present.

"Serena, you have to face reality," Ash started, again. "Ash may have helped and support his traveling companions when he was traveling with them. However, as soon as he left, so did his support." He looked down. "He never called or emailed his friends to ask how their lives were going or to catch up once he left. Instead, he treated these people like dirt and tossed aside friends with whom he made many memories with." He looked up. "All he cared about was his dream to become a Pokémon Master."

"Sacrifices have to be made to reach ones dream," Serena said.

Hearing the conviction in her voice, Ash quietly said to himself, "You really believe that, don't you?" He sighed. "What happened to that sweet girl who was my friend. . ."

Ash lived another memory in which showed him stuck in an alternate reality inside Reflection Cave. It was near sunset and both dimensions were open, but slowly moving apart. With all of his strength, Ash grabbed Pikachu and jumped towards his dimension. However, it was too far away and he wasn't going to make it. Suddenly, somebody caught him. Looking up, Ash saw that his hand was interlocked with Serena's.

The last thing that Ash saw was walking out of Reflection Cave and Serena asking if they will always travel together from now on. He, of course, responded yes because they were friends. . .

"Pikachu, use iron tail!"

Pikachutwo's tail glowed white as he ran towards his opponent.

"Use sunny day!" Serena countered.

Delphox, trusting her trainer completely, performed sunny day and caused the sun to gain intensity.

"Did it suddenly get really hot?" someone from the crowd said.

Pikachutwo, now within striking distance, leaped in the air and struck the fox Pokémon in the face with his tail. Leaping back, Pikachutwo prepared himself for his next order.

"Use iron tail one more time!"

Like before, Pikachutwo charged at his opponent with his tail glowing white. Then, he leaped into the air and swung his tail at Delphox.

"Delphox, counter with flame charge!"

Surrounding itself with fire, Delphox charged at the air bound mouse Pokémon.

Both attacks collided and they seemed evenly matched for a few moments. However, with sunny day in effect, Delphox, eventually, overpowered Pikachutwo and sent him flying back towards Ash.

With a loud boom, Pikachutwo crashed into the ground and caused a mini explosion. Once the smoke cleared, a battle worn Pikachu was revealed.

"Are you ok, Pikachu," Ash worriedly asked.

"Pika!" Pikachutwo responded in the affirmative.

Seeing Pikachutwo's guts caused Ash to have a flashback of the Ever Grande Conference in the Hoenn region where he battled Tyson and his Meowth with Pikachu. The battle was intense and had Ash fully engage until the end. Even though Pikachu ended up losing the match, he gave it his all and held nothing back. . .

"Delphox, use psybeam!"

Delphox fired a peculiar ray at her prey.

"Dodge with quick attack!"

Pikachutwo, with the speed boast, easily dodged the peculiar ray and leaped into the air after circling around Delphox.

"Delphox, behind you!"

"Too late! Use electro ball!"

Creating a ball of electricity at its tail, Pikachutwo did a flip and fired the deadly attack at his opponent.

The attack collided with the fox Pokémon back and caused her to fall onto her knees.

Running back over to Ash's side, Pikachutwo smirked.

"What about Ash's mom?" Ash asked Serena. "He barely spent any time with her after leaving on long journeys! Do you really think that was right thing to do to a person who raised you?"

"As his mother, I expect her to understand how much his dream meant to him!"

"Even if she does understand!" Ash responded hotly. "Don't you think it still would of hurt her!"

"Like I said earlier, sacrifices have to be made."

Shocked. . . Ash was shocked at what she said. 'What happened to the girl who cared about others…'

Ash lived another memory in which he hurt his foot at the Pokémon Summer Camp after saving Serena from falling down a cliff. Serena appeared apologetic that he got hurt rescuing her and tended to his foot while the others went and got help. She cared for his well being. . .

"Pikachu, use thunderbolt!"

First, Pikachutwo surrounded itself with electricity. Then, he launched his attack at his opponent.

". . ."

Serena, for the first time, said nothing in response.

The attack collided and caused smoke to surround Delphox.

"Delphox, use future sight!" Serena ordered as the smoke cleared.

Delphox's body glowed and sent blue balls into the air, but then the glow and blue balls disappeared and it seemed like nothing happened.

"Use iron tail!"

Pikachutwo came charging at Delphox with his tail glowing white.

"Dodge by dancing!"

Swing after swing, Pikachutwo tried connecting with his attack. However, Delphox bobbed and weaved out of the way every time.

"Awwwwee!" said a little girl from the crowd as she watched the fire/psychic Pokémon gracefully and beautifully dance.

After a while, Serena, as predicted, noticed that Pikachutwo's movements were becoming more and more sluggish. "Use mystic fire."

After dodging iron tail one more time, Delphox quickly drew a circle of fire with its stick and fired its attack.

Exhausted, Pikachutwo could do nothing, but observe with wide eyes, as it was hit at point blank range and sent flying.

"Pikkkacchhhuuu!" Ash screamed as he saw him go flying and crash on his side of the battlefield.

Once again, Ash spaced out and this time he saw himself at the Lily of the Valley Conference in Sinnoh and he was facing perhaps his greatest rival Paul with of course his best friend Pikachu. Paul was the polar opposite of Ash and questioned his training ways. For a while, Ash actually thought that Paul's path was actually the better one with how powerful it made him. However, with determination and guts, Ash finally proved that love and not power brings out a Pokémon's true potential. . .

"Piiikkkkkaaaa!" Pikachutwo screamed as he was blasted by blue balls from the future sight launched earlier.

"Pikachu, can you still battle?" Ash worriedly asked when future sight subsided.

Pikachutwo nodded his bruised face as he forced his scrape covered body to stand up and continue.

'Pikachutwo is tired and can't take much more damage. So, we need a plan before charging in.' Suddenly, Ash felt a buildup of sweet on his forehead from the hot sun and quickly wiped it off with one of his hands. 'That's it!' Ash though as he looked at the moisture in his hand.

"Delphox, use flamethrower!"

Instantly, Delphox aimed its stick at Pikachutwo and fired a ball of fire at him.

"Dodge it and charge!"

Using his agility, Pikachutwo moved side to side as he ran towards Delphox and dodged all incoming flamethrowers.

"Now, circle around Delphox and use iron tail!"

Pikachutwo quickly complied and charged at the backside of Delphox with his tail glowing.

"Don't think the same trick will work twice!" Serena shouted. "Delphox, do a flip to turn around and counter with flame charge!"

Delphox gracefully back flipped on her hands. Then, pushed off her hands and did a 180 to face Pikachutwo as she landed on her feet. "Phox!" Delphox shouted as she surrounded herself with flames and ran towards Pikachutwo.

"Pikachu, jump up as high as you can!" Ash ordered when the two Pokémon where close to one another.

Pikachutwo obeyed and became airborne.

'Nice try, but this match is over,' Serena confidently thought. "Delphox, jump up and meet Pikachu as it descends!"

Delphox tried to follow her orders, but as soon as she looked up, she had to shield her eyes from the intense rays of the sun.

"What!" Serena shouted in disbelief.

"Pikachu, now!"

With his back to the sun, Pikachutwo did a front flip and connected his gravity aided iron tail to the back of Delphox's head. Rocks raised up as Delphox face planted hard into the ground and Pikachutwo leaped back to his side of the battlefield.

'This guy!' Serena thought as her angrier started to take full control of her and Delphox rose to her feet. 'I will not lose this match!'

Observing Serena quench a fist by her heart caused Ash to gaze at the blue ribbon on her chest and remember the time he gave it to her. . .

They were in Coumarine City and their was going to be a celebration later that night under a huge tree called the Pledging tree. There, Trainers were suppose to give their Pokémon gifts to celebrate the bonds between Trainers and Pokémon. After looking for presents all day, Ash and Serena were on their way back to the Pokémon center when Ash unexpectedly won a blue ribbon for being the millionth visitor to the monorail. Later that night, Ash gave her that ribbon in thanks for giving him the idea on what to give his Pokémon. Serena happily accepted it and promised to cherish it forever. . .

"Lets show them real power Delphox!" Serena angrily shouted as her Pokémon leaped back over to her side of the battlefield.

"Pikachu, don't give them time to recover! Use electro ball!"

"Stand you ground Delphox!"

'Something doesn't feel right,' Ash thought as electro ball after electro ball collided with the fox Pokémon.

Suddenly, Delphox started to glow red as its ability blaze kicked in.

'So, that was her plan,' Ash thought as he gulped. 'And I thought Delphox was strong before the power boost.' Looking at his tried Pokémon that ceded in firing electro balls, Ash thought, 'This doesn't look good. . .'

Unexpectedly, Ash saw the scene change to the Vertress Conference in Unova where he was battling Cameron's Lucario. At first, it looked like Ash would win because he had two Pokémon left and Cameron only had Lucario. However, something felt off with that line of thinking and Ash was proved right when Lucario defeated Snivy and Pikachu to advance to the next round. . .

"Delphox, use psychic to hold Pikachu in place!"

Ash had a really bad feeling about this. "Pikachu, quickly, dodge it!"

"Too late!" Serena said with an evil smirk as Delphox lifted Pikachutwo up just above the ground. "Now, fire a full blast mystic fire at the rodent!"

Pikachutwo struggled mightily trying to free itself, but his struggle was in vain as Delphox drew a circle with its stick and fired its attack. Getting a boast from sunny day and blaze, a massive ball of fire came towards the trapped mouse.

"No, Pikachu," Ash whispered just before the enormous attack hit and caused a blinding white light that forced everyone watching to cover their eyes.

Eventually, the lighting return to normal and a collapsed Pikachutwo and smirking Delphox was revealed.

Seeing enough, the ref raised a flag and was about to call it when the icy tone of the queen cut him off. "It's not over, not yet."

Slowly, Pikachutwo raised one paw and put it down. Then, the other. With one eye shut and one ear bent sideways, he willed himself up into a standing position.

Even a person who have never seen a Pokémon before could tell that the poor creature could collapse any second and was in no condition to continue. So, the ref, once again, raised a hand to call it. "Pikachu is unable to-"

"I will decide when this is over!" Serena sharply interrupted.

That left ref speechless as Ash looked on in disappointment.

Suddenly, Ash had a flashback of the time he got sick with a fever after practicing with Pikachu and Greninja in a stream. That day, Serena watched over him while Clemont and Bonnie went to get medicine. Furthermore, she battled Jimmy in his place with Pikachu to make sure he would rest. It was clear that day that she would not risk his health for anything. . .

Looking into her eyes now, Ash saw no mercy in them, just anger. 'Even a blind man can see that Pikachutwo can't continue,' he thought furiously. Then, he sighed. 'It's not worth it.'

"I forfeit the ba-"

"Delphox, use future sight!" Serena spoke above Ash.

Delphox was hesitant, but did as it was told.

"NO!" Ash shouted as he worriedly looked at Serena. "You win!" Ash's voice turned desperate. "Call off the attack!"

Serena eye's narrowed and raised one hand up and pointed it at Ash. "You thought you could get away with insulting Ash!" She moved her hand to point at the very weak Pokémon. "Now you will suffer the consequences!"

"Delphox, use mystic fire one more time, hold nothing back!"

Delphox didn't move as it had a look of uncertainty in its eyes.

This just anger Serena more. "I gave you an order!"

Finally, Delphox relented.

Meanwhile, Ash saw another vision in which he was in the Lumiose Conference battling Alain's Charizard with Pikachu in the Kalos region. During the match, it was obvious Pikachu was weaken from its previous match against Alain's Metagross. In the end, Charizard's dragon claw outmatched Pikachu's weakened iron tail and forced him to fall. . .

As soon as Delphox started to draw a circle, Pikachutwo's body finally gave out and he collapsed face first into the dirt.

Time seemed to slow as Ash sprinted with everything he had out of his battle box and towards the defenseless Pokémon. 'Please, let me make it.'

Suddenly, the sky above opened up and blue balls from future sight came falling down towards the fallen mouse.

With one last leap, Ash crouched down over Pikachutwo and positioned his body to shield him from both deadly attacks. Accepting his fate, Ash closed his eyes tightly.

The crowd gasped at the turn of events and someone screamed as both attacks hit.

* **BBBOOOOOMMM!** *

Instantly, smoke covered the area.

At the same time, witnessing the selfless act of Satoshi protecting his Pokémon, made Serena think of Ash and snapped her out of her angry haze. Her eyes widened in horror as she realized she had gone too far and now Satoshi paid the price for her carelessness!

Everyone held their breath as the smoke cleared and showed the outcome of Serena's thoughtless action. Immediately, a powerful green barrier was revealed and confusion spread throughout.

"Is that protect?" the ref asked out loud.

Finally, protect was lowered and a pink Pokémon was observed to be levitating just in front of the still crouched over Ash whose hood was now down. "Mew," the pink Pokémon said sadly with its head lowered in sadness for the torment that her friend and Pikachutwo went through.

Observing no visible damage to Satoshi, Serena felt relieved, but, like everyone else, she was greatly astonished at seeing the legendary Pokémon Mew. "What is a Mew doing here?"

Hearing a voice, Ash finally opened his eyes and let out a deep breath that he didn't know he was holding when he saw that Pikachutwo was safe. From Serena's words, he quickly figured out what happened without turning around and deduced that his mission was now a total failure. "Mewtwo, code red." Ash emotionlessly ordered

Mewtwo, who hadn't move from his spot on the ground throughout the battle, snapped his eyes open and a white light came flying towards everyone, but Ash, Mew, and Pikachutwo.

Reacting quickly, Delphox jumped in front of her trainer and her eyes glowed as she protected Serena from the white light with her psychic powers.

"What's happening?" Serena asked as she worriedly looked around after the light subsided. Immediately, she noticed the glazed looks from everyone around her and ran up to the nearest person who happened to be the ref. "Are you ok?" She asked as she waved a hand in front of his face.

The ref didn't even blink.

" _He and everyone else are going to be ok,_ " a deep voice said from inside her head.

Surprised, Serena looked around and spotted a white Pokémon with its hood down walking towards Ash and company.

"Mewtwo?"

" _Yes, it is I human_ " Mewtwo replied.

"First Mew and now Mewtwo," Serena said as she looked from the pink legendary Pokémon to the white legendary Pokémon. "What is going on here?" Then, she looked at the zombified ref. "And what happened to everyone?"

" _It is called mind control,_ " Mewtwo explained. Hearing his voice caused Serena's eyes to snap back to him. " _The world cannot know the current whereabouts of Mew or I._ " Mewtwo turned his head to look at Mew. " _So, I take control of people's minds and delete their memories of us if either Mew or myself are exposed._ " He turned a sharp glare towards Delphox. " _Unfortunately, Serena, your Pokémon blocked my attempt to take control of your mind._ "

"Delphox!" Serena yelled as she sensed the growing tension.

Quickly, Delphox jumped in front of her trainer and returned Metwo's glare.

As this was happening, Ash stroke the fainted Pikachutwo's head as he remembered his time in the Winding Woods after his first battle against Wulfric. It was his eighth gym in the Kalos region and he humility lost with Sawyer watching. In his grief and stress, he escaped alone into the woods to reflect on where he went wrong. Shortly after, Serena followed him and tried to comfort him. Blinded by angrier, he yelled at her and said she wouldn't understand. This just upset Serena and she left after saying a few choice words and throwing some snowballs at the lost Trainer. Though the snowballs hurt and caused him to trip on a log and fall over, it was the words she said that stung the most.

" **YOU ARE NOT THE ASH I KNOW!** "

Ash came back into reality just in time to hear Mewtwo's last statement. Hearing shuffling and sensing a pointless battle rapidly approaching Ash raised his voice. "Mewtwo, enough."

" _But-_ "

"It's ok, she won't say anything." Ash softly said as he picked up Pikachutwo and stood up with his back still facing Serena. "Let's just get medical attention for Pikachutwo and go home."

'Wait a minute. Are those two legendary Pokémon traveling with him?' Serena asked herself as she slightly relaxed now that a battle with Mewtwo wasn't imminent. Nodded her head, she concluded that was the case based on his words and the fact that he wasn't a mindless zombie like everybody else. Now, that raised another question. "Just who are you Satoshi?"

Ash sighed. "I am a person who always seems to be apart of world changing events involving many legendary Pokémon. I am a person who has traveled across many different regions and whose dream was solely to become a Pokémon Master." Ash lowered his head. " I am a person who abandoned his friends after their journey together was up." He released a single tear. "I am a person who stomped on his own mothers heart by refusing to spend time with her." He looked at the fainted Pokémon in his arms. "Most importantly, I am a person who failed his best friend and caused him to die."

Serena felt her heartbeat pick up rapidly and her anxiety increase with each sentence that "Satoshi" spoke. Finally, she felt her world go still as "Satoshi" turned around and reveal just who he was to her.

"I am Ash Ketchum."

With a thud, Serena fell to her knees and her face went pale as she stared at the person who meant the world to her and whom she thought was lost to her forever. "A-Ash."

"Yes, it is me," Ash calmly replied.

Serena didn't know what to think. On the one hand, she was extremely happy to see him alive. On the other hand, she felt betrayal for the pain that his "death" caused her. She eventually decided to settle on betrayal. "W-Why didn't y-you tell me-e you wer-re alive-e?"

"Why would I reveal such information to a stranger?" Ash questioned.

Serena opened her mouth in shock. Then, an unbearable amount of pain went through her heart that caused her to collapsed onto her hands and lower her head. The words 'I am a person who abandoned his friends after their journey together was up' repeatedly echoed inside her head as she started to hyperventilate.

Delphox, immediately, went to her Trainers side and put a hand on her back in a failed attempt to comfort her. "Del-phox," she said sadly.

"I don't know the current you."

Serena slowly looked up and her breathing stopped.

"The person I see in front of me has lost the capacity to care or worry about others! Instead, she is full of anger!" Ash looked on in disappointment. "You know, they say in a Pokémon Battle two strangers hearts can connect and they can see what the other is feeling."

Tears started to form in Serena's eyes in response to Ash's words.

"Well, I tried and tried to show you my feelings, but instead I just saw yours!" Ash narrowed his eyes. "Do you want to know what I saw?"

In response, Ash just got light sobs as Serena cried.

"I SAW A HEARTLESS TRAINER WHO CARES ONLY ABOUT HERSELF AND HER DREAM!"

Serena's sobs turned hysterical.

" **YOU ARE NOT THE SERENA I KNOW!** " Releasing deep breaths as he recovered from his angry outburst, Ash experienced one final flashback.

After awhile Ash looked at the pitiful looking Top Coordinator and said in just above a whispering, "You were wrong at the airport 6 years ago before you left for the Hoenn region." Ash waited a few seconds before he delivered the killer blow. " I do not like the person you have become."

Serena, finally, lowered her head in complete misery and felt her whole world fall apart. The one person whom she valued above all others hated her.

"Mew, get us out of here." Ash ordered.

Mew, not wanting to come in between the two just yet, quickly complied and in a blink of an eye, Ash, Mewtwo, Pikachutwo, and Mew left the broken queen.

 **Lots of emotion and a long Pokémon battle. If this chapter didn't get a reaction out of you, then I don't know what will. Until next time!**


End file.
